Big Brother production firm for flotation
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.
