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To: Les H who wrote (176513)	6/30/2002 7:36:18 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 436258

KirchMedia offers expected by Monday -sources (billions evaporate in all places - Germany's WCOM) June 28, 2002 08:47 AM ET Email this article Printer friendly version By Boris Groendahl FRANKFURT, June 28 (Reuters) - Five to 10 consortia are expected to file priced offers for the core assets of insolvent German television group KirchMedia on Monday, setting the stage for a revamp of Germany's TV industry, sources said on Friday. Creditors of KirchMedia, the first pillar of Leo Kirch's [KRCH.UL] once mighty empire that crumbled this spring, will decide by Tuesday whom they allow to have a deeper look into KirchMedia's books, a source close to the bidding told Reuters. KirchMedia holds a majority stake in Germany's largest commercial TV broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media PSMG_p.DE , sports and television rights from World Cup soccer to The Simpsons, and various smaller TV assets. "The bids will all be for the 'new' KirchMedia or KirchMedia 2.0, basically ProSieben and the rights units," the source said. A group led by Germany's third largest listed bank Commerzbank CBKG.DE , exposed to 365 million euros ($364 million) of KirchMedia's three billion euros of liabilities, emerged as one bidder along with Sony-owned 6758.T pictures group Columbia TriStar International Television. Commerzbank board member Wolfgang Hertmann, who has lost the third member of his consortium, German newspaper publisher WAZ Mediengruppe, has said he estimated KirchMedia to be worth at least 1.8 billion euros, although sources close to the bidding said the figure appeared too low. "This is below the lowest level we would see for KirchMedia's assets," the source close to the bidding said. Last week, German publishers Axel Springer Verlag SPRGn.DE -- which already holds an 11.5 percent stake in ProSieben -- and magazine publisher Heinrich Bauer Verlag said they were considering a joint bid for a majority in the "new" KirchMedia. Springer, publisher of Germany's best selling tabloid newspaper Bild, and Bauer said they were open to other financial and media investors including the Commerzbank group but did not indicate the size of their bid. Sources told Reuters on Wednesday U.S. media billionaire Haim Saban was also considering a bid, looking to invest some of the $1.4 billion windfall he landed last year when he sold Fox Family Worldwide to Disney DIS.N . In a drama that mesmerised Germany for months, media mogul Leo Kirch saw his empire crumble and all four of its main pillars file for insolvency between April and June. None of the bidders that have announced an interest in recent months are as high profile as media czars Rupert Murdoch or Italian Prime Minister and media entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi, both minority investors in KirchMedia, who failed to agree a deal to save KirchMedia in the spring. Sources say Murdoch, who exercised a 1.7 billion euro put option that forced Kirch to buy back Murdoch's stake in his pay TV unit, has refocused his interest on other media assets in the meantime and was not pursuing Kirch anymore. The Kirch group's second main operating unit KirchPayTV is currently seeking investors for Germany's only pay TV channel Premiere, while KirchBeteiligung, a holding company for various media assets, is seeking buyers for a 40 percent stake in Springer.