For the second time in its 11 years, "Big Brother" creator Endemol will float its shares in an initial public offering, which values the company at around E1.6 billion ($1.9 billion).
Spanish telco Telefonica bought the global production outfit in 2000 for $5.9 billion in shares. Telefonica put stocks up for sale Thursday at between $10 and $15 apiece in a subscription period that ends Nov. 21. The gap means Endemol could be worth as little as $1.3 billion.
Endemol plans to float up to 35% of its share capital on the Euronext Amsterdam Exchange in hopes of raising around $590 million for acquisitions and to trim debt. It could be the first step in a sale of the entire company that analysts have been predicting for some time.
The company recorded a net profit of $723 million in the first nine months of this year, up from $688 million in the same time frame a year ago. Those figures include Endemol France, which accounts for a considerable slice of the company's value but is not included in the IPO because of a dispute with its parent company. It will be split off and run as a separate entity.
Nonscripted TV accounts for more than three-quarters of Endemol's revenue.
The company had its first IPO in October 1996, two years after former owners John de Mol and Joop van den Ende launched it. They became billionaires when they sold it to Telefonica.
Telefonica wants to focus on its core telecommunications business, according to Glen Spencer Chapman, analyst at Ibersecurities. It has been trying to unload Endemol for some time but hasn't had a good enough offer.
"Since nobody recognizes Endemol's value, Telefonica is floating part of Endemol so that the market can establish its value," Spencer Chapman added.
Endemol is headed by chair and chief exec Joaquim Agut Bonefills, chief creative officer Peter Bazalgette and chief operating officer Tom Barnicoat. Endemol has no chief financial officer, a situation that analysts might find unusual when the company begins trading on or about Nov. 22 in Amsterdam, and Agut Bonefills rarely gives interviews.
Endemol has appointed Caroline Torrance to the new position of international director of scripted programming and distribution. Torrance, senior veep of Americas/Eastern hemisphere and drama co-production at Granada Intl., will take up the job in January.
(Emiliano de Pablos in Madrid contributed to this report.)
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