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This is one European debt situation that Jeff Bewkes loves.
Bewkes’ Time Warner isn’t giving up on its $1.4 billion bid for Amsterdam-based reality TV giant Endemol, and has submitted a sweetened, all-cash offer for the company, The Post has learned.
The new offer, which is the same amount as the original bid, comes ahead of deadline tomorrow set by the creditors for getting the restructuring completed, sources said,
Endemol, formed in 1994 and the firm behind TV hits such as “Big Brother,” “Deal or No Deal,” “Wipeout” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” confirmed the new offer yesterday.
Time Warner has been bulking up on European production interests.
“Endemol has a revised offer from Time Warner,” a spokesman told The Post over the weekend. “The company has passed it on to the lenders.”
Time Warner insiders also confirmed the all-cash bid.
Debt-ladened Endemol, profitable on an operating basis, is in the final stages of a financial restructuring that is looking to reduce its hefty $3.7 billion in debt to a more manageable $670 million. Investment bankers at Houlihan Lokey are leading the restructuring.
The firm could complete that restructuring in the next few days, paving the way for a possible auction.
“We are confident that a solution that puts the company on a firm financial footing for the future is now imminent,” the Endemol spokesman added.
Endemol’s creditors include Apollo Management, Centerbridge, Providence Equity Partners, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, RBS and the Lehman Brothers estate.
On Nov. 24, Mediaset, the Italian media conglomerate owned by the family of former Italy prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, confirmed it had also made a bid for the firm in partnership with Italian private equity outfit Clessidra. Mediaset owns a one-third stake.
Lenders are rumored to prefer an Endemol sale after the debt restructuring — something that could have led them to turn aside Time Warner’s first bid in early November. A debt-for-equity swap could dilute Mediaset’s interest.
The Dutch-based target comes onto Bewkes’ radar screen at a time when the media executive has been adding European assets. In August 2010, Time Warner bought Shed Media, the production company behind “Supernanny.”
At the UBC Media conference last week, Bewkes said he is considering other acquisitions. “We never rule them out,” he said, noting the company has done 20 deals in the last three or four years, about 80 percent of them overseas.
A Time Warner spokesman declined to comment.