ITI Holding to retake 33% stake in TVN from SBS

ITI Holding is to re-purchase a 33% stake in TVN, sold to SBS Broadcasting two years ago. "SBS paid for TVN shares with its own shares and with cash (zl. 603 million). Now it will get its shares back as well as receiving cash, only $20 million more," said Andrzej Szymanski from DM BIG BG. ITI, which already holds 33% of TVN's shares, is said to hope for an increase in value of the holding from the investors' point of view, shortly before going public. According to analysts, however, due to TVN's complicated ownership structure, the holding, in spite of acquiring a majority of shares, will not in practice be able to control the company. Furthermore, the transaction itself seems to be profitable for SBS, as the estimated value of TVN is just zl. 1.2 - zl. 1.4 billion. The party that benefited most from the deal is undoubtedly the management board of ITI, which decided to reward itself with a bonus of $15.5 million (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 3) M.K.