News | Corporate Finance

Wednesday 18th April 2007

Multinational media group Bertelsmann AG of Germany has announced that it intends to close a new private equity fund with a value of over €1 billion.  The Bertelsmann group, which produces, serves and markets media, includes RTL Group, the No. 1 European broadcaster; Random House, the world's largest book-publishing group; Gruner + Jahr, Europe's biggest magazine publisher; and BMG, the umbrella of Sony BMG Music Entertainment and BMG Music Publishing.

Bertelsmann AG will commit at least €500 million to the new fund.  US-based investment bank Morgan Stanley and American financial services company Citigroup Inc. will be co-investment partners with Bertelsmann.

The private equity fund will focus on investments in the media sector in Europe, the US and Asia.  It is envisaged that the fund will have five to eight investments within the next four years.  While the value of each of these investments will vary, the substantial size of the fund and its financing structure will enable Bertelsmann AG to participate in bidding for takeovers of a total value of €15 to 20 billion.

The Munich office of SJ Berwin LLP is acting as counsel to the fund.  The Munich team is led by Corporate partner Sonya Pauls and Tax partner Dr. André Gloede.  Assisting are associates Christian Schatz (Tax), Olivia Böhm (Corporate) and Martin Brockhausen (Corporate).  The SJ Berwin team is working in conjunction with Bertelsmann AG in-house counsel Martin Dannhoff and Ulrich Koch.  Loyens Winandy is acting as Luxembourg counsel.

For further information, please contact:

Sonya Pauls, Partner (Germany) on +49 (0)89 89 0 81 0 or by emailing sonya.pauls@sjberwin.com

Ann-Charlott Steinbrück, Marketing Assistant (Germany) +49 (0)69 50 50 32 927 or by emailing ann-charlott.steinbrueck@sjberwin.com

Aurelia Spivey, Corporate Business Development Manager (London) on +44 (0)20 7111 2060 or by emailing aurelia.spivey@sjberwin.com

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