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After weeks of contacts with possible investors, the group of communication and HSBC, the bank in charge of his financial restructuring, they have extended the ambience of companies those who are informed about the interest of the company in desinvertir in the business of television of payment.

Sources expert in these contacts make sure that the bank is making come to audio-visual, so much national groups, as foreign, a preliminary invitation to a possible process of sale of Digitalis +.

Between these groups, there would be the Italian Mediaset, associate of reference of Telecinco, as well as the principal international operators of television of payment, like BSkyB, property of the Australian magnate of the means Rupert Murdoch, and Vivendi, owner of Channel + France.

From the group Prisa, they make sure that "one has not given yet any order of sale of these assets" to HSBC, although they recognize that, once the formal divestment process is started, "the logical thing is to entrust it to the bank".

Credit bridge

Hurry negotiates now with HSBC the enlargement of the credit syndicated bridge for 4.115 million euros that the company has signed to refinance his debt and that conquers next June 20. In the negotiations, already advanced posts, the company at that Ignacio Polanco presides thinks about how to extend the term of the loan for, at least, another six months, and it will try to improve his conditions.

After the decision, against prognosis, of Phone companhy of selling his participation in Sogecable, in the frame of the opa to 28 euros proposed by Hurry last December, the company will increase his indebtedness over 5.000 million euros.

The company, which was accumulating at the end of the past exercise a debt of 3.000 millions, has now when to confront to the payment of another 1.920 millions for 49,9 % of Sogecable that it was not controlling. From the throwing of the offer, the audio-visual market and the stock-exchange one they have deteriorated significantly, what has raised the attraction of the offer of Hurry over its own forecasts. Now, the debt of the group of communication represents four times his clear patrimony and it is a six times and average superior to his gross result of development (ebitda), that reached 780 millions in 2007.

The strong fall of the audio-visual business and the financial crisis will reduce 3.500 million euros to which Hurry aspires for 100 % of his business of television of payment. This number calculated with comparable operations (to see EXPANSION of May 20), contemplates that a buying Digitalis temporary employee + will have to assume most of 880 million debt euros of the audio-visual group. Also, it will have to compensate to Hurry for 600 millions of the fiscal credit of his branch which he still has not had and which will lose if it sells the assets that generated it.

Alternatives

In the current market situation, three are the possible exits for the business of television of payment of Sogecable. The first stage happens for an agreement with Phone companhy, which is already provided with business of television of payment across Imagenio and it might add up, alone or with associates, Digital + to his assets. Sogecable would manage this way the contents and Phone companhy the relation with the clients. This is the alternative best seen from the group and contacts have already begun.

The second one is the Digitalis segregation + and his sale to an international industrial holding. BSkyB and Vivendi appear in all the football pools. Also one has speculated on a possible interest of the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, which this one has pushed back.

The last one, which till now has not been very well seen between the Hurry owners, consists of giving entry to a financial associate, who can be a fund of risk capital or an investment bank, between that some sources place Goldman Sachs. These would bring liquidity to the group and would allow to the family Polanco to support the control, as there has happened with the entry of 3i in Union Radio, the wireless branch of the group. 


(Expansion, 18/06/08)