May 28 (SeeNews) - Canal+ Group, the pay-TV subsidiary of France’s Vivendi, said it has agreed to buy M7 group, one of the largest independent pay-TV companies in Europe operating in Benelux and Central Europe, including Romania, for slightly over 1 billion euro ($1.1 million).
The proposed acquisition of M7, owned by private equity firm Astorg, will allow Canal+ Group to expand into 7 new European countries, Vivendi said in a statement on Monday.
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The acquisition, subject to the European Commission’s approval, will add more than 400 million euro of profitability accretive to Canal+ Group and Vivendi, the statement noted.
“M7 is an aggregator and distributor of local and international channels via satellite and OTT platforms. It has developed a presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania where it has a total of 3 million subscribers, of which 0.8 million to a basic access package,” Vivendi added.
This development will allow Canal+ Group, which already has subscribers in France, Switzerland and Poland, to expand into additional European territories representing 36 million households for a total population of nearly 90 million, according to the statement. After closing the operation, Canal+ Group would have nearly 20 million subscribers worldwide, including 12 million in Europe.
“This major operation will allow us to strengthen our distribution capacity in order to leverage content originating from our library and our numerous production operations in Europe,” said Maxime Saada, chairman of the Canal+ Group executive board.
($ = 0.89295 euro)