RTL Group has agreed to sell 100% of its Croatian operation to PPF Group’s subsidiary CME for €50 million.
As part of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals from the Croatian Competition Authority and Croatian Agency for Electronic Media and expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, CME has secured the long-term rights to retain the use of the RTL brand in Croatia.
Broadband TV News notes that the transaction marks a return for CME to Croatia. In July 2018, it received final regulatory approval to sell its assets in the country to Slovenia Broadband, a subsidiary of United Group.
Meanwhile, RTL Group has been the majority shareholder of RTL Croatia since its establishment in 2004, and since July 2015 it has been fully owned by the company.
Commenting on the transaction, Didier Stoessel, CME CEO for Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, said:
“As a PPF company, we are always open to interesting ideas for growth and investment and see that the Adriatic is a growing region with exceptional potential. We have a very successful operation with ProPlus in the region and I believe that these two Adriatic countries can work well in parallel. As in our other countries,we will focus on digitalisation and local content creation, while continuing to excel in pluralistic and high-quality journalism”.
Elmar Heggen, COO and deputy CEO of RTL Group, added: “We would like to thank the management and all employees of RTL Croatia for their performance, passion and commitment. Over the past 18 years, RTL Croatia has grown from the first commercial channel in the country into an entertainment company with a family of eight TV channels, digital services and its own music label. RTL Croatia’s journalistic offer is and will remain essential for the media pluralism in the country”.
Heggen continued: “With its clear regional focus on Central and Eastern Europe and its commitment to editorial independence and integrity, CME is well equipped to further develop RTL Croatia. The sale is in line with our consolidation strategy and the best strategic option for RTL Croatia, its dedicated team and our shareholders”.
RTL Croatia’s three free-TV channels – RTL Televizija (family, general interest), RTL 2 (classic movies, series and sports) and RTL Kockica (children) – form the leading family of TV channels in Croatia, which is complemented by the pay-TV channels RTL Living, RTL Passion, RTL Crime and RTL Adria as well as RTL Croatia World, a dedicated channel for Croatians living abroad. The business unit also operates the streaming services Play and Play Premium, several digital services and the music label RTL Music.
