FOCUS-Redirected Thomson Multimedia ready to float
Reuters, Monday, October 18, 1999 at 13:35
(Adds comments from TMM chairman paras 4-5, 11, 14-15)
By William Emmanuel
PARIS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - France on Monday announced the
partial flotation of Thomson Multimedia, the television
manufacturer which only two years ago was so burdened with debt
it was nearly sold for a symbolic one franc.
Now, the finance ministry has said it will sell shares at an
indicative price of 18 to 21.5 euros each with a capital
increase of 3.5-4.0 billion French francs ($580-660 million),
valuing the company at between 14.6 billion to 17.5 billion
francs.
The ministry said in a statement the sale would be between
October 18 and 29, market conditions permitting.
"This sale...will allow us to raise the funds necessary for
our development," Thomson Multimedia Chairman Thierry Breton
said in an interview in daily Le Monde.
"We are talking about a new company, radically redirected
towards digital businesses, and very international since only 10
percent of its business is in France," he said.
Thomson Multimedia, the biggest single supplier of
televisions and VCRs to the United States, and the fourth
biggest in the world, will remain majority owned by the state
with state-owned Thomson SA (SBF:THMP) retaining a stake of 51.7
percent.
Its sale has been a sensitive political issue since former
conservative prime minister Alain Juppe tried unsuccessfully to
sell it to Korea's Daewoo (KOREA:07410) in 1997 for just one franc
-- arguing its heavy debts meant it was worth no more than that.
His plan was overruled by the privatisation commission.
Since then the Socialist-led government pumped 11 billion
francs into the group and brought in private shareholders
including France's Alcatel (SBF:CGEP), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), NEC
(TOKYO:6701) and Hughes Electronics (NYSE:GMH) unit DirecTV.
The finance ministry said that after the partial sale, these
industrial partners would hold 25.5 percent of Thomson
Multimedia, staff would hold 5.6 percent and private and
institutional investors would hold 17.1 percent.
READY FOR EXPANSION
Breton told a news conference the television manufacturer
was now in a strong position to expand, as the world's sole
"pure player" in consumer electronics. Acquisitions were being
studied, he added, without giving details.
The group's main subsidiaries are in the United States,
China, Mexico and Poland.
"Thomson Multimedia has a strong commercial position, a
healthy financial situation and has managed to develop alliances
with world partners," he said.
While its rivals were conglomerates, Thomson Multimedia
would focus on three core areas -- television tubes, building
platforms for consumers including televisions, decoders and DVD
video players, and services, including programme guides.
In going digital, its ambition was to become the world
leader in top-of-the range home viewing products, he said.
Deputy Managing Director Franck Dangeard said the group
aimed to raise its operating margin to six to seven percent in
2001 from 2.9 percent in 1998.
It had a net profit of 203 million francs in the first half
of 1999 on sales of 18.4 billion, compared to a first half loss
of 258 million last year, on sales of 16.3 billion.
The partial sale is to be accomplished by the sale of around
19,106,696 shares held by Thomson SA and the sale of 1,988,790
new shares, for a total of 21,105,486 shares or 17.3 percent of
TMM's capital, according to a prospectus published on Monday.
Around 2,879,222 shares, or 2.4 percent of the capital, will
be sold in France alongside a worldwide offer of around
16,315,594 existing shares and 1,988,790 new shares. Societe
Generale and Goldman Sachs International are managing the sale.
The ministry said private investors would have the same
terms as institutional investors for the sale. A definitive
price will be fixed after the initial placement period.
4236 1072, paris.newsroom@reuters.com))
($1=6.037 French Franc)
Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service
|
