Carlyle Group, KKR reportedly interested in media business of ATV-Sabah Group.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Carlyle Group, KKR reportedly interested in media business of ATV-Sabah Group. Private equity companies Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), as well as local Fiba and Ipek-Koza Groups, are interested in media assets of ATV-Sabah, according to the daily Radikal . Last week, the saving insurance deposit fund (SDIF), which offering ATV-Sabah Group, announced that Greek Antenna, German ProSiebensat 1, US-based News Corp, Czech Central Media Europe, and Germany’s RTL Group had already obtained tender documents. Media assets of ATV-Sabah Group were seized by the SDIF in April because the SDIF discovered that ex-owner of the media group, Dinc Bilgin and last owner Turgay Ciner concealed some protocols and contracts from the fund. Earlier last month, SDIF put the assets for sale with an estimated price of USD 1.1bn. The assets will be auctioned on November 7. The deadline to apply for pre-qualification is Oct 15 and final bids will be collected in Nov 6. After the tender is technically finalised, the SDIF will seek approvals of the competition board and radio and television supreme council. According to the tender specifications, consortiums entering the tender must have at least 75% local participation. Under Turkish regulations, it is prohibited for foreign companies to own more than 25% of local TV companies, however such obligation do not exist for newspapers.