Kuwait’s KIPCO Rejects $3.2bn Offer For Pay-TV Unit OSN

Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) has rejected a $3.2 billion takeover offer from a U.S. private equity firm for its pay-television subsidiary OSN, the parent company said in a bourse filing on Sunday.

KIPCO owns 60.5 per cent of OSN while Saudi Arabia-based Mawarid Group holds the remainder. They jointly refused an offer from the U.S. firm, which was not identified in the statement.

The offer comprised $2.4 billion in cash and a further $800 million subject to certain conditions, according to KIPCO. It said the offer was for between 51 and 100 per cent of OSN; it did not elaborate.

Dubai-based brokerage Arqaam Capital last year valued OSN at $4.3 billion.

The TV company has operations across the Middle East and North Africa, and posted earnings of KD139.5 million ($494 million) in 2013.

KIPCO said early this year that OSN might float on the London stock exchange in 2014, but OSN chief executive David Butorac told reporters in May that a public share sale was not imminent.