Gütersloh, April 29, 2013 – Today, the international media company Bertelsmann, which owns Random House in the US, set the price for the secondary public offering of ordinary shares of RTL Group at €55.50 per ordinary share. The transaction represents a total placement of €1.4 billion shares.
RTL Group is Europe's leading entertainment company, and is majority-owned by the German media conglomerate. The unit has interests in 54 television and 29 radio stations in 10 countries.
The offering comprised 25.5 million existing ordinary shares including an over-allotment option of 2.3 million ordinary shares. At the price of €55.50 per share, this results in gross proceeds to Bertelsmann of approximately €1.4 billion. Following the placement, Bertelsmann will hold 75.1 per cent of RTL Group’s ordinary shares, assuming full placement of the over-allotment option and remain a majority shareholder of RTL Group.
The total share capital of RTL Group has been admitted to the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, in addition to the existing listings on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and Euronext Brussels. The first day of trading for the offered shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is expected to be April 30, 2013.
Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe says: “I am very pleased that we can successfully complete the book-building process for the RTL Group shares. We will use the proceeds from the sale of shares to implement our corporate strategy with its four key priorities – strengthening the core, digital transformation, expansion of growth platforms, and entering growth regions. Our goal is to make Bertelsmann a faster growing, more digital and more international company in the years ahead”.
Bertelsmann Chief Financial Officer Judith Hartmann adds: “The sale of RTL Group shares is one of Bertelsmann’s biggest capital market transactions ever. We are and will remain the majority shareholder in RTL Group – and will continue to support the strategic development of the business”.
