DUBAI: Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) has rejected a $3.2bn takeover offer from a US private equity firm for its pay-television subsidiary OSN, the parent company said in a bourse filing yesterday.
KIPCO owns 60.5 percent of OSN while Saudi Arabia-based Mawarid Group holds the remainder. They jointly refused an offer from the US firm, which was not identified in the statement.
The offer comprised $2.4bn in cash and a further $800m subject to certain conditions, according to KIPCO. It said the offer was for between 51 and 100 percent of OSN; it did not elaborate. Dubai-based brokerage Arqaam Capital last year valued OSN at $4.3bn.
The TV company has operations across the Middle East and North Africa, and posted earnings of KD139.5m ($494m) in 2013, was a candidate for an initial public offer of shares this year, although the company dampened those expectations in recent weeks..
KIPCO said early this year that a flotation could happen on the London stock exchange in 2014, but OSN Chief Executive David Butorac told reporters in May that a share sale was not imminent. Butorac also said OSN’s shareholders were looking at future options for the business.
OSN joins a number of Kuwaiti-linked companies that are said to have attracted interest from potential buyers this year.
Reuters
