RTL (Bertelsmann) renounces the sale of its stake in M6 | Photo credits: M6 group
(Updated with RTL press release)
MILAN/PARIS, Oct 3 (Reuters) – RTL, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, announced on Monday that it was abandoning its plan to sell its controlling stake in M6, confirming information from Reuters.
“The RTL group has been a reference shareholder of the M6 group for 35 years,” RTL boss Thomas Rabe said in a statement.
“We will pursue our strategy, which aims to create a media group capable of competing with American platforms,” he added.
Thomas Rabe, who is also chairman of Bertelsmann’s management board, said RTL had received “several financially attractive offers” for its 48.3% stake in M6.
The Bouygues group announced in mid-September the abandonment of the merger project between TF1 and M6 because it had not overcome the reluctance of the Competition Authority.
The operation provided for the takeover of the new entity by Bouygues with a 30% stake, while the German group RTL, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, would retain 16% of this new entity.
After the merger project was abandoned, Thomas Rabe told the Financial Times that RTL was “inundated” with expressions of interest in buying out the stake in M6.
Thomas Rabe had also indicated that the sale of this stake was only an option. (Report Mathieu Rosemain and Elvira Polina; French version Camille Raynaud, edited by Matthieu Protard)