Proventus acquires Alma Media shares held by Pohjola Group

Move undermines Schibsted bid for media conglomerate

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The Swedish investment company Proventus bought 8.5% of the shares of Finnish media conglomerate Alma Media on Friday evening. With the holding came 15.2% of the company's voting rights.
      The sellers were Pohjola Insurance, Suomi Mutual, and Ilmarinen, all members of the Finnish Pohjola Group.
      The surprise move by Proventus could spell defeat for Norway's Schibsted Group in its battle for control of Alma Media, and the acquisition of a major share of the commercial television market in the Nordic Countries. The likely winner in the game will be the Swedish publishing giant Bonnier.
     
The first surprise from Proventus came already on Friday morning, when it announced that it had bought a 15.1% holding in Sweden's largest commercial television company TV4, which was held by the Swedish MTG media concern.
      At that point discussions on buying out the Alma Media portfolio were apparently in the final stretch, as Proventus launched its bid for the shares on Wednesday of last week.
     
Proventus CEO Daniel Sachs was visibly pleased on Monday with his role as the joker in the pack of the Nordic media game.
      "We want to take part in the structural change in the media field, and in developing Alma Media", he explained.
      Sachs insists that Proventus plans to hold on to its shares for "two to five years". However, Proventus is generally seen to be a tool of the Swedish media giant Bonnier in Bonnier's face-off with Schibsted.
      If Bonnier had bought Alma's shares itself, it would have had to buy out the shares of all the other owners.
     
Schibsted put forward an offer for Alma Media shortly before Christmas. The Norwegian concern wanted to get a foothold in the Finnish television network MTV3, Sweden's TV4, and possibly even Denmark's TV2.
      However, Sachs insists that Proventus was on its own in the project.
      Bonnier's head of communications, Erik Månsson, says that Proventus informed Bonnier about its purchase of the Alma holding during the weekend.
      "This does not change anything. We are still reading and evaluating Schibsted's take-over bid documents."
      However, he also admits: "We have been aware for some time about the interest of Proventus in the media."


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bid for Alma Media seen as prelude to shake-out in Nordic TV market (22.12.2005)
  Norwegian Schibsted Group seeking to buy Alma Media for EUR 705 million (21.12.2004)

Links:
  Alma Media press release 10.1.2005

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