Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister and media mogul, is considering a €5 billion bid for ProSiebenSat1, Germany's largest commercial broadcaster.
If successful, the deal would create one of Europe's biggest and most profitable commercial broadcasters and mark the first takeover of a top German broadcaster by a foreign competitor.
People close to Mediaset, the Berlusconi family-controlled media group, cautioned that European and US media businesses were also looking at ProSieben and it was by no means inevitable that the Italian company would be the new owners.
The German group has attracted interest from private equity groups, including Apax, Texas Pacific Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Permira - which together own SBS, a Luxembourg-based broadcaster - and CVC. A controlling stake in ProSieben is being auctioned by JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, with first-round offers due early this month.
People familiar with Mediaset said the Italian group planned to offer about €30 a share, a premium of about €7 to ProSiebenSat1's recent share price, to the group of private equity investors - led by Haim Saban, the US billionaire investor - who control the German group. However, with a market capitalisation of €10.4 billion, some observers said Mediaset might not find it easy to pay the €5 billion asking price for the German group.
