Brussels, 23/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 22 February, the European Commission authorised the proposed acquisition of ProSiebenSat.1, the second largest German TV broadcasting group, by equity funds Permira of the Channel Islands and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) of the United States.
Permira and KKR are both equity investment funds. In the media sector, they jointly control the Dutch SBS TV group, mainly active in the Nordic countries and in the Netherlands and Belgium. Permira also controls A113Media, a British TV production and distributor of TV rights. ProSiebenSat.1 operates five TV channels in Germany of which four are financed by advertising. With the proposed concentration, KKR and Permira would extend their footprint in national TV broadcasters into the German free TV market.
The Commission's examination of the proposed transaction showed that there are no horizontal overlaps between the activities of ProSiebenSat.1 and SBS. As regards the vertical relationship between All3Media and ProSiebenSat.1 for the supply of TV content, the Commission's investigation revealed that there were no competition concerns due to the negligible volume of sales involved in Germany.
The Commission also analysed the potential effects of the proposed transaction arising from the fact that ProSiebenSat.1 and SBS are among the larger TV broadcasters in their regions. The Commission concluded that there was no risk that the proposed transaction would allow the new entity to drive competitors out of the market or to discriminate against them. (cd)