Macquarie buys Britain's BBC Broadcast
Mon Jun 27, 2005 5:58 AM BST
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By Daniel Morrissey
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian consortium agreed on Monday to buy digital media distributor BBC Broadcast Ltd., for 166 million pounds and said it would honour a one-year moratorium on compulsory job cuts.
Investment fund Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's largest investment bank, will own 65 percent and 35 percent, respectively, of BBC Broadcast, via the consortium Creative Broadcast Services Ltd.
The British Broadcasting Corp., put the division up for sale in December as part of one of the biggest shake-ups in BBC history to trim costs.
Trade unions at the BBC last month called off a 48-hour strike to protest plans to cut 20 percent of the BBC workforce, after management offered a one-year moratorium on compulsory redundancies and to protect staff conditions at BBC Broadcast.
"There is no intention for any staff redundancies during the one-year moratorium. Our focus is on growing the business," said a spokeswoman for Macquarie Capital Alliance, which Macquarie Bank set up and floated this year, retaining a 10 percent stake.
BBC Broadcast had revenues of 109 million pounds in the year to end-March -- 91 percent sourced from the BBC -- and its contracted revenue to 2015 from the BBC was expected to be more than 500 million pounds, the consortium said in a statement.
"Macquarie appears to have done a reasonably priced deal, purchasing an asset which has a clear base cashflow from the BBC with some opportunity for expansion from the BBC," said Scott Maddock, a media analyst at fund manager BT Financial.
"And as the UK television market becomes fully digital and there are additional TV channels put to air, there will be a demand for additional services from this operation," said Maddock. "So it does seem like a fair deal."
The price valued BBC Broadcast at 11.6 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, after adjusting for one-off items, for the year to March 31, the consortium said.
BBC Broadcast had a "state-of-the-art playout facility", which changes content into a datastream ready for transmission, at White City, London, and under the acquisition agreement, its senior management team would be retained, the consortium said.
Macquarie Capital Chief Executive Michael Cook said BBC Broadcast was in a strong position to grow, develop demand from new communication media and make stable and predictable revenues.
French bank BNP Paribas has arranged and underwritten debt facilities of 110 million pounds for the transaction, subject to approval by the British government.
Macquarie Bank advised the consortium on the deal.
The purchase was expected to be completed by the end of July and would be funded by both debt and equity from the consortium.
Shares in Macquarie Capital, which led a consortium last month in buying European telephone directories business YBR Group, rose as much as 6 percent to A$1.95 in thin trade.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/new...1_YUE684733_RTRUKOC_0_MEDIA-BBC-MACQUARIE.xml
Damn, how rich are these guys?
Mon Jun 27, 2005 5:58 AM BST
Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS
Related Pictures
By Daniel Morrissey
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian consortium agreed on Monday to buy digital media distributor BBC Broadcast Ltd., for 166 million pounds and said it would honour a one-year moratorium on compulsory job cuts.
Investment fund Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's largest investment bank, will own 65 percent and 35 percent, respectively, of BBC Broadcast, via the consortium Creative Broadcast Services Ltd.
The British Broadcasting Corp., put the division up for sale in December as part of one of the biggest shake-ups in BBC history to trim costs.
Trade unions at the BBC last month called off a 48-hour strike to protest plans to cut 20 percent of the BBC workforce, after management offered a one-year moratorium on compulsory redundancies and to protect staff conditions at BBC Broadcast.
"There is no intention for any staff redundancies during the one-year moratorium. Our focus is on growing the business," said a spokeswoman for Macquarie Capital Alliance, which Macquarie Bank set up and floated this year, retaining a 10 percent stake.
BBC Broadcast had revenues of 109 million pounds in the year to end-March -- 91 percent sourced from the BBC -- and its contracted revenue to 2015 from the BBC was expected to be more than 500 million pounds, the consortium said in a statement.
"Macquarie appears to have done a reasonably priced deal, purchasing an asset which has a clear base cashflow from the BBC with some opportunity for expansion from the BBC," said Scott Maddock, a media analyst at fund manager BT Financial.
"And as the UK television market becomes fully digital and there are additional TV channels put to air, there will be a demand for additional services from this operation," said Maddock. "So it does seem like a fair deal."
The price valued BBC Broadcast at 11.6 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, after adjusting for one-off items, for the year to March 31, the consortium said.
BBC Broadcast had a "state-of-the-art playout facility", which changes content into a datastream ready for transmission, at White City, London, and under the acquisition agreement, its senior management team would be retained, the consortium said.
Macquarie Capital Chief Executive Michael Cook said BBC Broadcast was in a strong position to grow, develop demand from new communication media and make stable and predictable revenues.
French bank BNP Paribas has arranged and underwritten debt facilities of 110 million pounds for the transaction, subject to approval by the British government.
Macquarie Bank advised the consortium on the deal.
The purchase was expected to be completed by the end of July and would be funded by both debt and equity from the consortium.
Shares in Macquarie Capital, which led a consortium last month in buying European telephone directories business YBR Group, rose as much as 6 percent to A$1.95 in thin trade.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/new...1_YUE684733_RTRUKOC_0_MEDIA-BBC-MACQUARIE.xml
Damn, how rich are these guys?