Banijay chairman Stephane Courbit tables bid for France’s M6 Group

Stéphane Courbit

Banijay chairman Stephane Courbit has emerged as the frontrunner to buy France’s M6 Group via his FL Entertainment outfit, following the broadcaster’s failed merger with TF1.

M6 owner Bertelsmann has reportedly received a trio of offers for the group since it was put up for sale last week, with Reuters reporting that Italy’s MediaForEurope (MFE) had teamed up with Iliad’s billionaire owner Xavier Niel to submit a non-binding offer on Friday.

Niel, who last week announced the surprise acquisition of a 2.5% stake in Vodafone, is reportedly unsure whether to go in on the bid via Iliad or through one of his other investment vehicles.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the Reuters report, though it does note that MFE’s plans for pan-European expansion to combat competition from US streamers lines up with the initial reason for M6’s merger with TF1.

Courbit & Kretinsky table bids

The second offer was reported on Sunday, with Bloomberg revealing that a group led by media mogul and Banijay chairman Stephane Courbit had offered €20 a share for Bertelsmann’s controlling 48.3% stake in M6.

The figure represented a 39% premium compared to M6’s closing price of €14.43 on Friday, and values the stake at around €1.22bn.

TBI understands that should any acquisition proceed, M6 would likely sit alongside Banijay in the FL Entertainment portfolio, which also houses Courbit’s gambling firm Betclic. FL Entertainment is backed by investors including Bernard Arnault and Canal+ owner Vincent Bolloré.

While the bidding process is at an early stage, the Bloomberg report claimed Courbit has backing from shipping tycoon Rodolphe Saade and businessman Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere. Reuters reported this is the bid in pole position.

The final offer, also mentioned in the same Bloomberg report, is said to be from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

He previously acquired a 10% stake in ProSiebenSat.1 and has worked with fellow Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, whose investment group PPF struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery (fka WarnerMedia) to acquire Eastern European broadcast group CME.

The market has responded well to the news, with shares in M6 opening 10% higher on the Paris stock market at around €15 on Monday morning.

The decision to abandon the merger between M6 and TF1, which was originally announced in May last year, came after the parties appeared at the hearings of the French Competition Authority’s board on 5 and 6 September. The two groups concluded that the merger “no longer has any strategic rationale.”