Access Industries' Blavatnik Proposes Investment To Save Setanta

Blavatnik Has Offered To Invest $32.7M For A 51% Stake To Save Setanta Sports

N.Y.-based Access Industries Chair Len Blavatnik "has thrown Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports a financial lifeline by offering to invest" $32.7M (all figures US) for a 51% stake, according to Ciaran Hancock of the IRISH TIMES. The investment "would be made through Access Industries," and it forms part of an overall $81.8M "proposed injection of new funds into the business" by Blavatnik and other shareholders. The cash injection reportedly would allow Setanta to "reach break-even, probably within two to three years." The proposal was "agreed in principle" Friday by the Setanta BOD at a London meeting, though the investment is "subject to due diligence, which is due to be completed by Friday." A source said Blavatnik is "seriously ambitious" for the company's future. Meanwhile, the Setanta BOD Friday also decided to recommend "taking new subscriptions from customers, having suspended the service" last week (IRISH TIMES, 6/13). In London, Mark Kleinman reported Blavatnik "already owns a small stake in Setanta and is keen to see it salvaged because of the knock-on effect its collapse would have on TopUp, the pay-TV broadcaster which sells Setanta packages to digital terrestrial viewers" (London TELEGRAPH, 6/14).

PAYING THEIR DUES: In Manchester, James Robinson reported Setanta "has met part" of its $57.2M payment due to the EPL today, as the league received $16.3M on Friday and Setanta will pay a further $16.3M this Friday." A final $24.5M payment "has been deferred until later this summer, despite indications from the Premier League that it would not consider renegotiating or deferring payments." But the EPL "has reserved the right to put the final year of Setanta's three-year deal, which kicks in at the start of the 2009-10 season, out to tender if it believes the rescue is foundering." Industry sources said that the EPL "could begin the process of re-auctioning those rights before Friday by inviting offers from other bidders" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 6/14). In London, Roddy Forsyth wrote Blavatnik's investment proposal "offered grounds for a more upbeat assessment of likely prospects" for the Scottish Premier League (SPL), to which Setanta failed to make a previously scheduled $4.9M payment. An SPL source said, "Now there is a definite possibility that there is a way out of the problems." Forsyth noted Blavatnik's $32.7M offer is "less than half" the $81.8M Setanta "tried to raise to bridge its cash flow gap, but is likely to facilitate other revenue streams and may see the broadcaster move to becoming a wholesale holder of rights which could be transmitted by other sources" (London TELEGRAPH, 6/13).