BB FANS

Guardian
Dominic Timms
Thursday November 10, 2005

Big Brother producer Endemol could be valued at up to 2bn euros (£1.35bn) when it floats on the stock market next month.

The reality TV producer, whose programme formats like Deal or No Deal and Fear Factor are sold around the world, is floating on the Amsterdam stock market on or around November 22 in a deal that could raise 1.1bn-1.6bn euros (£741m-£1.1bn).

Endemol's owner, Spanish telecoms group Telefonica, is floating around 35% of the company in a bid to cut its spiralling debt mountain.

The proceeds are expected to go towards paying off some of the costs of last month's £18bn acquisition of mobile phone group 02.

Telefonica said it had opened the share offer to institutions at a price of 8.80-12.80 euros a share and is expected to close this around November 21.

It said it had applied to list around 125m shares, but would decide the exact number to be offered once its advisers had talked to potential investors.

"The anticipated listing will increase the visibility of our business and enhance the ability to align management objectives with company strategy," the Endemol chief executive, Joaquim Agut Bonfills, said in a statement.

The company, which has a network of subsidiaries stretching from Argentina to China, confirmed that its French division would be not be included in the float.

The French subsidiary will be split off and run as a separate entity after Endemol failed to agree payoffs with local managers.

Telefonica acquired Endemol for 5.5bn euros at the height of the dotcom boom five years ago.

Last year the producer said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached 132.4m euros.

The floatation, which would earn the company's UK head, Peter Bazalgette, a sizeable fortune from his shareholding, comes just months after Telefonica turned down offers of around 2bn euros for the business from media company Time Warner.

sbpost
10/11/2005 - 6:28:27 PM

The production firm behind the Big Brother series today said it was preparing for a stock market listing that could value it at more than £1bn (€1.5bn).

Trading in shares of Endemol is set to begin later this month when it floats on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange.

The decision by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica to press ahead with a listing scotches speculation that Endemol could be snapped up by private equity buyers.

News of the flotation comes a week after Telefonica agreed to buy mobile phone operator O2 for £17.7bn (€26.4bn) in the biggest takeover deal in the UK since the dotcom boom.

Telefonica said it was likely that the 125 million shares in Endemol would be offered to investors within a range of €8.8 and €12.8 each, valuing the firm at up to €1.6bn.

In addition to Big Brother, Netherlands-based Endemol was the company that brought Fame Academy, Ready Steady Cook and Ground Force to television screens in the UK.

Endemol employs 3,300 full-time staff and has subsidiaries and joint ventures in 22 countries, including the UK, United States and Latin America. It generated revenues of €850.9m last year, while banking earnings of €132.4m.

Telefonica paid €5.2bn for the company in 2000 but has been selling surplus businesses to concentrate on its main telecoms operations.

Joaquim Agut Bonfills, chief executive of Endemol, said: “We are very pleased with the anticipated listing, which constitutes an important step for Endemol as a global entertainment company.

“This is the result of hard work by our employees worldwide. The anticipated listing will increase the visibility of our business and enhance the ability to align management objectives with company strategy.”

The flotation is likely to trigger a series of windfall payments for senior managers, including the chairman of the UK arm Peter Bazalgette.

He is understood to have amassed a large amount of shares and share options in Endemol when it merged with his own company, Bazal.

iht.com
Endemol IPO price range values the firm at up to €1.6 billion

El Pais Spain | A. SIM
Madrid

Spanish telecommunications group Telefónica yesterday launched an initial public offering of Endemol, the creator of the reality show Big Brother, which values the Dutch television production company at between €1.1 and €1.6 billion.

Endemol set an indicative price range of between €8.8 and €12.80 per share. The company has outstanding capital of 125 million shares, of which Telefónica owns 99.7 percent. The subscription period began yesterday, and is due to end around November 21.

In a statement, Endemol said the exact size of the stake to be sold and final price would be determined by the interest generated in a bookbuilding process. The IPO is being managed by Merrill Lynch, ABN Amro and Credit Suisse First Boston, who have been given the option to buy additional shares up to an amount equivalent to 12 percent of the share award in the IPO.

Telefónica Chairman César Alierta has previously said the group planned to float between 20 and 30 percent of Endemol. The television producer is no longer strategic for Telefónica, and there has been speculation that the former Spanish state monopoly may be using the IPO to establish a market valuation for the company with a view to offloading it entirely. There has also been talk of a management buyout.

Shares in Endemol, the firm behind the Big Brother TV series, closed above their offer price after making their debut on the Dutch stock market.

The shares, sold to institutional investors for 9 euros each, hit a high of 9.59 euros, but ended the session at 9.33 euros on Tuesday.

Representing a 22.3% stake in Endemol, the shares were sold by its Spanish parent company Telefonica.

Some analysts had wondered if there had been limited interest in the float.

The experts raised their fears after the shares were sold at the lower end of a proposed range of between 8.8 and 12.8 euros.

The float values the Dutch company at about 1.1bn euros ($1.3bn; £752m).

Hit programmes

Telefonica paid 5.5bn euros for Endemol in an all-share deal in 2000.

In addition to Big Brother, Endemol is also behind the Ready Steady Cook and Fear Factor TV formats.

Telefonica has recently being selling non-core businesses in order to focus on its main telecoms interests.

While Endemol has its head office in the Netherlands, it also operates subsidiaries and joint-ventures in 22 countries around the world, employing 3,300 people in total.

But Endemol's French business is not to be part of the listed group.

Instead, it has been hived off into a separate firm following a disagreement with local managers over payouts.

Endemol posted earnings of 132.4m euros last year, excluding the French business.

Story from :
BBC NEWS
Published: 2005/11/23 00:06:43 GMT

A SLICE of Endemol, the Dutch TV company behind Channel 4 show Big Brother, has been sold to institutional investors.

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, which has just agreed a deal to buy mobile phone firm O2, sold 22.3 per cent of the firm at around £6 per share.

Telefonica said it had sold off 27.9 million shares in Endemol, valuing the stake at around £750 million - substantially below what Telefonica paid for it five years ago, but above their book value.

Endemol reportedly turned down takeover interest last year from media companies including Time Warner that indicated a valuation of about £1.36 billion.

From Scotsman