CME has agreed to buy News Corp’s broadcast assets in Bulgaria for $400 million (€254.1 million) in cash. The size of the deal, which encompasses the national commercial station bTV, cable-delivered thematic channels bTV Cinema and bTV Comedy and 74% of Radio Company C.J. OOD, is subject to adjustment in the event that actual working capita at completion differs from an agreed level of target working capital.
The deal is subject to approval from the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition and expected to be completed in Q2 2010. As part of the transaction, CME has also agreed to buy Top Tone Holdings’ 20% interest in CME’s Pro.BG business in consideration of a 6% interest in a newly created subsidiary holding the bTV business and Pro.BG businesses.
Top Tone Holdings will also have the right to buy a further 4% within three years of the deal closing.
Following the sale of its Bulgarian assets, News Corp will only have a regional presence left in Latvia, where it owns the national commercial station LNT.
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