Czech investment company PPF Group has bought a 6.3-per-cent stake in Viaplay Group as the embattled streaming broadcaster continues to shift equity.
The move by PPF, the parent company of media group Central European Media Enterprises (CME), means that Viaplay has now sold 18.3 per cent of the company since becoming mired in financial problems after overstretching itself in international markets.
Pay-TV broadcaster Canal Plus announced its acquisition of a 12-per-cent stake in Viaplay on July 20, the same day that the Nordic media group reported a second-quarter net loss of SEK5.9bn (€509m/$562m) and announced plans to make 25 per cent of employees redundant and exit the Baltic, UK and US markets.
Viaplay’s share price recovered slightly to reach SEK50.25 on Friday on the back of the PPF news. In June, the figure plunged from SEK225.40 to SEK62 amid financial and management turbulence.
The broadcaster has been weighing up asset disposals, equity injections or even the sale of the whole Viaplay Group, while it is also looking to downsize, exit or partner up in international markets with the exception of the Netherlands. Viaplay is seeking to sell on sports rights in its ‘non-core’ territories.
While Viaplay continues to make payments to rights-holders, it has also warned that it needs to reach new terms with its lenders “on how best to navigate the period ahead”.
PPF continues to invest in the European broadcasting sector and recently upped its stake in ProSiebenSat.1 to over 15 per cent, becoming the second-largest shareholder in the Germany-based commercial broadcasting group behind Mediaset’s MediaforEurope.
It has not divulged whether it also plans to build up its stake in Viaplay.
Chief executive Jiří Šmejc recently outlined PPF’s general strategy, saying: “When you buy a share in a publicly traded company, you have somewhat limited knowledge because you're drawing on public information. Therefore, our strategy is to create a position large enough to get a place in the company's bodies.”
CME operates TV channels in Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Czech Republic.
Viaplay’s huge second-quarter loss was largely caused by write-downs in non-sports content in the Nordics of SEK2bn and in sports content in the Nordics of SEK1.6bn. Jørgen Madsen Lindemann recently replaced Anders Jensen as chief executive as the company predicted wider-than-expected international losses and curtailed profits in the Nordics.