Support for the transaction is provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The KKR conglomerate from the United States, the leading investment company and the owner of the United Group telecommunications and media group, has announced an agreement to take over the Croatian media portfolio currently owned by CME, with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), reports tportal.hr on October 13, 2017.
KKR, the owner of United Group, confirmed its intention to retain and develop Nova TV as a separate Croatian company which will be independently managed, as well as to create and expand local production capacities, and increase investments in media content in Croatia.
“The media industry is undergoing significant global transformation, and Croatia is not immune to such trends. This is driven by changes in consumer habits, including on-demand viewing, OTT, and user-generated content. These services are expected to be omnipresent, available everywhere, and on any device. This development and lower distribution costs through the OTT model have created a multitude of new, powerful and global players in the industry. The digital transformation of the television industry is a reality in Croatia today, given the fast broadband 4G/LTE mobile networks and the widespread use of English language among the local population,” said Jean-Pierre Saad, CEO of KKR and member of the board of directors of United Group.
He added that, in order to compete with other global platforms, local TV operators need to boost investment in their own content which will have to be adapted to international quality standards. “We are looking forward to building and expanding the local production capacities of Nova TV and increasing investment in our content,” he added.
KKR has a long history of supporting media and telecommunications companies, enabling them to continue to grow in today’s digital ecosystem. So far, they have invested over eight billion dollars in telecommunications, the media and the digital sector on a global scale.
Since 1996, KKR has invested in 58 companies from different sectors in Europe. By the end of March, they invested more than 20 billion dollars in long-term projects. Between 2006 and 2014, KKR was the leading investor in Germany, including in the ProSiebenSat 1 media company.
Translated from tportal.hr.
