PPF Group announced that it had increased its holding of shares and instruments in ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (ProSiebenSat.1) to a stake of 15.04% in aggregate. PPF's holding represents 11.6% of voting rights on the outstanding share capital of ProSiebenSat.1. MediaForEurope also recently further upped its stake in the German broadcaster to round up its stake of combined held and secured shares to 28.87% of the share capital or 29.7% of current voting rights, excluding treasury shares.
"Our growing shareholding in ProSiebenSat.1 demonstrates that PPF is a long-term and supportive investor with ample television broadcasting experience that can add value to Germany's leading media company," said Didier Stoessel, PPF's Chief Investment Officer.
PPF Group initially acquired a 9.10% stake in ProSiebenSat.1 last February. The transaction turns PPF Group into ProSiebenSat. 1's second-largest shareholder after Berlusconi's MFE-MediaForEurope, which built up a 29.9% stake in the past months.
PPF is an active telecommunications, media, and technology investor. The company's subsidiary CME operates several TV and online media companies in Central and South-Eastern Europe. Founded by the now-deceased Petr Kellner, PPF has investments across 25 countries. Kellner's widow, Czech billionaire Renáta Kellnerová, now controls the company. Kellnerová's stake acquisition follows a progressive sell-down by another Czech investor, Daniel Kretinsky, whose Czech Media Invest acquired a 12% stake in 2020. Kretinsky, who was seen as an ally of the Berlusconi family's MediaForEurope, which has called for Europe-wide media consolidation, is in a relationship with Kellnerová's daughter, Anna Kellnerová, and Kellner was previously Kretinsky's business partner in energy holding company EPH.