RTL Group discards plan to sell its stake in Groupe M6

RTL Group announced that it has decided to keep its controlling stake in Groupe M6. The decision follows a review of strategic options after the group received several financially attractive offers for its 48.3% shareholding in Groupe M6.

“RTL Group has been a strategic shareholder in Groupe M6 for 35 years. Groupe M6 is one of the best-run TV companies in Europe with an excellent management team, led by its CEO Nicolas de Tavernost. In 2021, Groupe M6 achieved record operating results. We will continue to pursue our strategy to build national media groups of sufficient size to compete with the US platforms,”  commented Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group.

On September of this year, Groupe Bouygues, RTL Group, Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6 decided to call off their plan to merge Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6 after being blocked by the competition regulator. Following this decision, RTL Group received several financially attractive offers for its controlling stake in Groupe M6.

The list of entrepreneurs that were supposedly queuing up to bid for the French commercial channel included Stéphane Courbit of production giant Banijay, French media group Vivendi, production and sales outfit Mediawan, French maritime transport tycoon Rodolphe Saadé, and billionaire investor Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. Another possibility was a fresh bid from the Silvio Berlusconi-backed conglomerate MediaForEurope or the telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, who last year both failed to acquire the company.

However, according to RTL Group, the legal risks and uncertainties of a move like this were too high, due to the required approval processes from the antitrust and media authorities, and the timing for the upcoming license renewal for the main channel M6. RTL Group has thus decided not to sell or reduce its 48.3% shareholding in Groupe M6.

“RTL Group remains convinced that market consolidation is necessary to compete with the global tech platforms – and that market consolidation will happen in the European TV markets sooner or later. With a strong presence across TV, radio and streaming, Groupe M6 will play a key role in any further consolidation in the French TV industry,”  the company said in a statement.