Thomas Rabe
RTL Group has reached an agreement on the sale of RTL Nederland to DPG Media, a leading multi-media company active in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. "We would like to thank the management and the team at RTL Nederland for their outstanding entrepreneurial and creative performance over many years," Elmar Heggen, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of RTL Group, said. "We know DPG Media well. With a similar entrepreneurial culture, DPG Media will be a very good new home for RTL Nederland, and we are looking forward to expanding our cooperation into a strategic partnership."
Subject to regulatory approvals and the consultation process with the respective works councils, the all-cash transaction is expected to close around mid-2024. The total consideration on a debt- and cash-free basis and with a normalised net working capital, to be paid at closing, amounts to €1.1 billion. The capital gain from the transaction will be largely tax exempt and will amount to approximately €0.8 billion. RTL Group’s shareholders will benefit from the transaction in line with the Group’s stated dividend policy. "We are very pleased that we have reached an agreement with RTL Group to acquire RTL Nederland, the undisputed market leader in commercial TV broadcasting, and the owner of the highly successful streaming platform Videoland," Christian Van Thillo, Executive Chairman of DPG Media Group, said.
As part of the sale, RTL Group and DPG Media will enter into a strategic partnership, spanning from technology to advertising sales and content: At the time of closing of the transaction, the service agreements for RTL Nederland in the areas of streaming technology (via Bedrock), broadcasting operations (via RTL Group’s technical services provider BCE) and international advertising sales (via RTL AdAlliance) will be renewed for at least three years. RTL Nederland will also continue to use the solutions provided by RTL Group’s ad-tech business, Smartclip. For three years after closing, RTL Group’s broadcasters in Germany, France and Hungary will receive first-look rights for all new programmes developed by RTL Nederland. Based on a separate trademark license agreement, DPG Media will continue to use the "RTL" brand in the Netherlands at least until December 2034. "Together with our leading TV brands VTM and RTL Belgium, we will be able to build a group that has the necessary scale to invest in the digital transformation of television," Van Thillo said. "I am looking forward to working with the outstanding leadership team of RTL Nederland, and I am also very pleased that we will build a strategic partnership with RTL Group."
Until the closing of the transaction, RTL Group will continue to benefit from all cash flows and profits generated by RTL Nederland. "RTL Nederland is a fantastic company. Under the leadership of CEO Sven Sauvé, the company has built a strong culture and achieved extraordinary successes – demonstrated by market-leading audience shares in linear TV, strong growth in streaming and high profitability," Thomas Rabe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RTL Group, said. "For several years, we have consistently said that market consolidation in the European TV industry is necessary to compete with the global tech giants. After our in-country consolidation strategy was blocked by the competition authorities in January 2023, the sale to DPG Media is the best strategic option for RTL Nederland and all its stakeholders. We are looking forward to the strategic partnership with DPG Media, working closely together on European solutions in advertising and streaming technology, international advertising sales and joint content development."