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SYDNEY - The Seven Network is finalising plans to go into private ownership in a $3.5 ($4.09) billion deal with a US private equity giant.
The network's boss Kerry Stokes wants to form a new group with deep pockets to play a bigger role in the nation's media industry shake up, The Australian Financial Review reports this morning.
The deal with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) will value Seven at $3.5 billion of which $1 billion is equity and $2.5 billion debt.
Mr Stokes is a 42.9 per cent shareholder in the network.
The deal will be similar to that undertaken by James Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) last month when it sold a 50 per cent stake in its media assets to CVC Asia Pacific, raising $4.5 billion.
KKR was one of the firms which missed out on the PBL deal.
Along with its commercial television networks, Seven also has three other main assets being magazines, a stake in West Australian Newspapers and the Yahoo7 joint venture.
- AAP
