[Article] CanWest offloads UTV stake for £59m

Victor

Hmmm, I'm surprised they didn't bundle TV3 into the deal or maybe they are going to just build up TV3 by poaching contracts and staff from UTV.

http://www.rte.ie/business/2004/0702/utv.html

CanWest offloads UTV stake for £59m
July 02, 2004 12:28

CanWest, the Canadian TV group, has sold its 29.9% stake in broadcaster UTV in a deal worth £59m sterling.

CanWest, which also owns 45% of TV3, sold the shares at £3.75 each, a discount of more than 10% on the trading price. The shares were placed with 12 institutional investors through the London market.

CanWest said the sale was consistent with its stated intention of selling off non-core, non-strategic assets and the proceeds would be used to pay down bank debt.


A spokesperson said that while the TV3 stake could also be sold eventually, there were 'no immediate plans'.

The sale of UTV shares brings CanWest a profit of around 50 million Canadian dollars on the price it paid for its stake in 1997. During its period of involvement it has also received 33 million Canadian dollars in dividends.

flogen

interesting stuff... I tought the same as you..

does this mean tv3 will stop being utv3??

one can only hope that they'll put the money earning into pumping up tv3 and making something new and worthwhile, but I wont hold my breath.

flogen

mike65

According the Sunday Tribune the UTV stake was offered to ITV plc (Cartlon/Granada) but they refused on cost grounds, meanwhile CanWest are disposing of all non-core assets so TV3 stake will be sold on sometime in the next 6 months I'd say.

UTV will just be hoping the TV3 stake is not sold to ITV as that would surely mean they'd also try to buy the portion of UTV they don't already have and then form a new ITV Ireland company.

Mike.

Richard

Originally posted by mike65
According the Sunday Tribune the UTV stake was offered to ITV plc (Cartlon/Granada) but they refused on cost grounds

That is interesting. Maybe ITV plc don't want to buy UTV, though I wish they would! I imagine that ITV plc would be more interested in buying SMG however.

UTV will just be hoping the TV3 stake is not sold to ITV as that would surely mean they'd also try to buy the portion of UTV they don't already have and then form a new ITV Ireland company.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean here, but ITV plc don't own any of UTV at the moment. In addition, if they did buy all of UTV and TV3, I seriously doubt there would be an 'ITV Ireland' company created. NTL is Northern Ireland is not part of NTL Ireland, for example. There are also various regulatory reasons which would make it difficult.

Actually I don't think it would make much sense to use the ITV brand on TV3, anyway. ITV is hardly a global brand, not like Vodafone, for example.

mike65

Originally posted by Richard

I'm not sure exactly what you mean here, but ITV plc don't own any of UTV at the moment.

My bad, I thought some of it was in Granada/Calton hands. A merged TV3/UTV would make sense for a larger owner though I'm sure many legal issues would have to be dealt with.

Mike.

flogen

Originally posted by mike65
My bad, I thought some of it was in Granada/Calton hands. A merged TV3/UTV would make sense for a larger owner though I'm sure many legal issues would have to be dealt with.

Mike.

I would say it would be sad to lose one channel, but would it really make a difference if they did merge?
I would say the legal bits and bobs would make it impossible to merge the two... would it be out of question to see ITV buy up tv3, and call it ITV ireland, as direct competition to UTV?
I'd say the buyer will be from outside the UK and Ireland, I wouldnt mind seeing an Irish buyer, though, might help the station make something of its own... Denis O Brien, anyone?

flogen

chewy

don't know business very well, who did they sell it to?

icdg

Eleven institutions apparently bought the shares (likely to be pension funds, banks, and the like).

As I said over on Boards.ie/ICDG/Broadcasting , this makes a takeover of UTV far more likely, as CanWest had so large a stake (29% - the maximum premitted by a single shareholder before a bid must be made) that they could have blocked any bid from getting the 80% of shareholders needed to go unconditional. Now its not so clear cut...

flogen

cheers for that icdg.

I am interested to see what happens to tv3 once their sold... who will pick them up, and if its not ITV, will they continue to use most of their programmes?

flogen

Elmo

I am interested to see what happens to tv3 once their sold... who will pick them up, and if its not ITV, will they continue to use most of their programmes?

Unless ITV sell its share TV3 will always be ITV Eire.

ITV will get around to buying UTV.

Do ITV not have managers in TV3?