PPF, the owner of TV Nova and Voyo, has taken advantage of the situation in the scandinavian media group Viaplay and acquired a 6.3% stake in it.
Investment group PPF, owner of domestic TV Nova, has bought a 6.3% stake in Scandinavian media company Viaplay, according to an announcement on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. This comes a week after Canal+ also acquired a 12% stake in the Scandinavian group. PPF has now become one of Viaplay's largest shareholders.
The operator of the Viaplay streaming service, which has expanded into a number of European markets in recent years and has become a key streaming platform in the Nordic region, announced new strategic moves at the end of July. The company wants to focus mainly on Northern European markets, the Netherlands and selected Viaplay activities, and is therefore willing to exit partnerships or presence in foreign markets. It has also announced 25% staff redundancies, a programme reduction and has not ruled out the possibility of sub-licensing.
In the second quarter of this year, the group reported a loss of SEK 5.8bn (approx. USD 560m) and generated revenues of SEK 4.6bn (USD 450m, +16%). The number of subscribers to Viaplay's service in the Nordic markets increased slightly year-on-year, but declined quarter-on-quarter due to the phasing out of campaigns that do not lead to revenues and profits. The total number of Viaplay subscribers (including foreign markets) at the end of the second quarter was 6.6 million (down 15% compared to Q1).
For PPF, the entry into Viaplay is another international participation in a media group outside of Central and Eastern Europe, where its CME Group already operates. Earlier this year it entered Germany's ProSiebenSat.1, where it currently holds a 15% stake. Home TV Nova operates the Voyo streaming service and has cited Viaplay as a model of how to expand in a local territory and counter multinational streaming services.
Viaplay not only operates the streaming service of the same name, but also TV3's TV stations in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, as well as Viaplay's studios, fall under the Viaplay umbrella.
According to E15, it is not impossible that Viaplay will also gradually increase its stake. "When you buy a stake in a publicly traded company, you have somewhat limited knowledge, as you are drawing on public information. That's why our strategy is to create a large enough position to get a seat on the company's board. Which is what we will be able to do at ProSieben, where management has proposed our candidate for the supervisory board," PPF Group CEO Jiri Smejc said in June.
Source: mediaguru.cz
