Axel Springer Buys German Tv Group

German publisher Axel Springer is buying control of ProSiebenSat.1, Germany's biggest commercial broadcaster, for 2.5bn euros (£1.7bn).

The deal will create Germany's second biggest media group behind Bertelsmann and moves Springer, the owner of newspapers Bild and Die Welt, into TV for the first time.

The deal provides a tidy profit for Israeli billionaire, Haim Saban, whose consortium is selling its stake in ProSieben for three times what it spent two years ago when it bought the broadcaster from the collapsed media group Kirch.

ProSieben, which counts the former BBC director general, Greg Dyke, as a board director, runs four commercial TV channels in Germany.

It offers general entertainment on Sat.1, youth shows on ProSieben, classic TV on Kabel Eins and round the clock news on N24.

Springer already has an 11.8% stake in ProSieben, and will now own 100% of the company's voting shares and 25% of the preferred shares.

"ProSiebenSat.1 is an investment that will pay off," the Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner said in a statement today.

"We are investing in a business that is profitable even in difficult times. We are creating a structure to open up the digital business of the future."

As part of today's agreement, Mr Saban's group, P7S1 Holding, will receive a 2.4% stake in Springer.

One of the consortium partners is San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, which already has a 19% stake in Springer.

Founded in 1946, Springer has grown into a publishing group with over 150 newspapers and magazines in 27 countries.

Last year it was one of the disappointed bidders in the battle to take over the Telegraph group, its first attempted foray into the UK market.

Mr Saban was linked to the bid, though his interest was confined to the Jerusalem Post, another title owned by the Telegraph's then parent company, Hollinger International.