TDF bids reportedly fall short of target

Télédiffusion de France (TDF)’s owners have received offers amounting to less than €4 billion for the sale of the media service provider’s French assets, according to local reports, putting a question mark over the group’s capacity to pay its €3.8 billion debts. 

According to a Reuters report in financial daily Les Echos, citing un-named sources close to the process, TDF’s owners were counting on offers of at least €4 billion to enable them to avoid the possibility of being drawn into negotiations with creditors over a potentially costly restructuring of the business. According to the sources cited, a successful sale of the French business could than have been followed by a sale of TDF’s German assets.

TDF, whose shareholders include investment groups TPG, FSI, Axa Private Equity and Charterhouse, has been hit over the past few years by the impact of the economic crisis, the failure of the Télévision Mobile Personnelle (TMP) mobile TV platform and the more rapid than expected transition to digital TV in France.