By Angela Cullen
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Premiere AG, Germany’s biggest pay-television company, renegotiated debt facilities of 525 million euros ($734 million) with banks on condition that it sells 450 million euros of new shares in rights offers backed by shareholder News Corp.
Under the terms of the agreement, News Corp. would be exempted from German rules requiring a company to make a mandatory takeover offer if it reaches or exceeds a threshold of 30 percent, Premiere said in a statement to the stock exchange today.
The German company has reported four consecutive quarterly losses as costs increased and sales were hurt by hackers gaining access to its broadcasts. A new encryption system that restricts its programs to paying subscribers increased hardware costs. Premiere is predicting a loss this year and sales of more than 1 billion euros.
To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Cullen in Frankfurt at acullen8@bloomberg.net
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