French media tycoon Vincent Bollore is "bidding for a stake in Spain's largest sports broadcasting rights firm," Mediapro, at the same time as "facing off" with former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi for control of Mediaset, according to Andrés González of REUTERS. Bollore's Vivendi is reportedly one of 10 bidders, "alongside a number of Chinese and U.S. investors, hoping to land" either a 30% or 51% stake in Spain's Imagina. The race for Imagina "epitomizes the broader trends in the media industry: deep-pocketed Chinese investors are snapping up sports and entertainment assets abroad while European and U.S. media giants are on the hunt for ever more content." Imagina, usually just known as Mediapro after the name of one of its subsidiaries, has the rights to distribute La Liga "around the world and also produces movies and television series." A source directly invovled in the deal said, "Bidders sent their non-binding offers on Monday. They are from Asia, Europe and the U.S." A second source said that "there were about 10 offers," including from Vivendi, Alibaba's Alisports, China's Citic Private Equity Funds management, Chinese real estate and entertainment firm Dalian Wanda Group, U.S. media company Liberty Media and private equity fund Advent. The deal could "mark a milestone in the global offensive by Chinese companies to secure some of the best sports and entertainment assets" as it could value the Spanish company at more than €2.5B ($2.6B), "twice as much as any other European sports firm bought to date" (REUTERS, 12/16).
