Norway's A-Pressen ups profile: TV 2 stake grows
A-Pressen on Monday upped its shares in commercial channel TV 2 Norway from 23% to 25% and is in negotiations to further increase its stake to 32%. If the transaction goes through, it would make A-Pressen the largest stockholder in TV 2, although probably not for long.
Norwegian media giant Schibsted and Danish media conglomerate Egmont currently each have a 31.5% share of the channel, and it is believed they would also quickly increase their shares to 32% to match any A-Pressen portfolio.
The 2% slice just sold to A-Pressen and the 7% of shares still in negotiation come from pan-Scandinavian media group Aller. Aller reportedly sold the initial 2% stake to test the value of the shares on the market. TV 2 regularly banks more than 65% of all commercial TV ad revenue in Norway and is considered very profitable.
A-Pressen just last March declared itself a contender to be reckoned with in the Norwegian broadcast landscape when it increased its shares from 4% to 20% in network TvNorge. The 18-channel affiliate network's other shareholders include Scandinavian Broadcasting System (SBS) and Schibsted. SBS, whose largest shareholder is Disney/ABC, owns 51% of TvNorge; Schibsted owns 29% of the net.
A spokesperson for media planning group Carat Inter-Media in Norway told Variety that A-Pressen's sudden buying spree into TV properties ''comes from a new realization it currently has only its print leg to stand on.'' Schibsted also has powerful print interests in Norway, including the largest circulation daily, Aftenposten, but began investing in other media platforms, including TV 2, a number of years ago.
A-Pressen is owned by Norway's ruling Labor Party (Arbeider Partiet). Its print properties include the national newspaper Arbeiderbladet (Labor Newspaper) and a raft of regional and local newspaper chains that stretch across the country.
