Swedish Media Giant Announces Merger of Bulgaria Broadcasting Assets

The chief executive of Modern Times Group, Hans-Holger Albrecht, has announced a merger of the company's Bulgarian broadcasting assets. Photo by rixfm.com

Swedish media company Modern Times Group will merge its broadcasting assets in Bulgaria into a single entity, the company reported late Tuesday in an official press release.

The company said it has reached agreement with Apace Media Plc to merge part-owned Balkan Media Group Limited into Modern Times Group subsidiary Nova Televizia.

The Swedish company has owned 50% of Balkan Media, with Apace holding the remainder, since March 2007 and completed the 100% acquisition of Nova Televizia in October 2008.

"This change will substantially simplify the ownership structure of our operations in Bulgaria and is in line with our overall media house strategy," Modern Times chief executive Hans-Holger Albrecht said.

Following the non-cash transaction, Modern Times will own 95% of the enlarged Nova Televizia group and will continue to fully consolidate the results of the combined operations, the company said, while Apace will own 5% of the merged entity.

The assets being transferred from Balkan Media include Diema, Diema Family, Diema 2 and MM channels in Bulgaria, as well as Albanian language channel ERA TV in Macedonia. Nova Televizia operates the Nova TV channel, which is Bulgaria's second most watched television station.

Modern Times Group is a Stockholm-listed, international entertainment broadcasting group with the second largest geographical broadcast footprint in Europe.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!