Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has said that it has terminated an agreement, announced in July 2017, to sell its operations in Slovenia, and will instead retain full ownership of the country’s leading television network, POP TV.
Co-Chief Executive Officer Michael Del Nin said: “Since we announced our intention to sell our Slovenian business 18 months ago in order to accelerate deleveraging, we have repaid approximately 370 million US dollars in loans, reducing our gross debt by about 30 per cent, and cut our average borrowing cost by more than half to 3.5 per cent. At the same time, Slovenia has grown its revenues significantly and reached a level of profitability that it hasn’t seen in a decade.”
“We have always said this transaction was not a reflection of our outlook for the business. Quite the contrary, we are strong believers in the value of television assets and the future of the Slovenian operations, which have been confirmed by its spectacular growth over the last year. We look forward to continuing to work with the team at POP TV in our longstanding tradition of providing objective news and the best entertainment for Slovenia,” added Co-Chief Executive Officer Christoph Mainusch.
CME is a media and entertainment company operating leading businesses in five Central and Eastern European markets: Bulgaria (bTV, bTV Cinema, bTV Comedy, bTV Action, bTV Lady and Ring), the Czech Republic (Nova, Nova 2, Nova Cinema, Nova Sport 1, Nova Sport 2, Nova International, Nova Action and Nova Gold), Romania (Pro TV, Pro 2, Pro X, Pro GOLD, Pro CINEMA, Pro TV International, MTV Romania and Pro TV Chisinau), Slovakia (TV Markíza, Markíza International, Doma and Dajto) and Slovenia (POP TV, Kanal A, Brio, Oto and Kino).
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