Major shareholders in ITV support management efforts to explore a potential deal for its production arm, with rival studios and private equity now circling one of Europe’s largest TV studios.
ITV has held early talks with RedBird IMI, the Abu Dhabi-backed investment group that last year acquired UK rival All3Media for more than £1.1bn, according to several people familiar with the situation.
A merger of ITV Studios with All3Media could create a production group worth more than £3bn, bringing together the UK studios responsible for shows from Love Island to Traitors and Rivals, and giving negotiating power at a time when many streamers and broadcasters are tightening their budgets.
While the two sides had held conversations, the people added, these were at an early stage with no certainty of any progression or deal. RedBird IMI — whose New York-based boss, Jeff Zucker, was in London in late January — is the Abu Dhabi-backed investment vehicle that the UK government blocked last year from owning the Daily Telegraph.
Meanwhile, a number of other potential suitors are looking at ITV Studios, the people said, including private equity groups CVC and Blackstone. Rivals such as Banijay, one of Europe’s largest production groups, were also monitoring the situation, two people said.
Blackstone, CVC and Banijay all declined to comment.
A deal with RedBird IMI was still seen as a more likely option, said the people familiar with the situation, in part given ITV’s clear interest in merging with All3Media in the past.
ITV, RedBird IMI and All3Media declined to comment on the talks.
ITV, led by chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall, lost out to RedBird IMI in the auction for All3Media last year.
With ITV’s share price near where it was trading 13 years ago, investors told the Financial Times that there was support for its management to explore a potential deal given the lack of value being put on the broadcaster’s business units.
One top-10 shareholder said that while ITV had done a good job investing in the TV part of the business, notably in online streaming, this had not been recognised by the market.
“There comes a point with ITV where, if the market can’t see the value for itself, ITV has to do something to make the value of the studio business more apparent,” the shareholder said.
The investor added that they would welcome a transaction involving the studios business, such as selling all or part of the business, or a joint venture, adding that ITV could use the proceeds to buy back shares.
They said: “If you think you are undervalued and there is something you can do about it, you can’t sit tight forever.”
Liberty Global, which is ITV’s largest shareholder with about a tenth of its shares, is also supportive of the management looking at options for the business, said two people familiar with its thinking.
The people familiar with Liberty’s position pointed out that a deal could also give the US group an exit for its 10 per cent stake in ITV, or access to content talks for its wider business. Liberty Global declined to comment.
Mark Kelly, chief executive of financial advisory firm MKP Advisors, said that “if you put a conservative valuation multiple on the production side of the business you end up with a valuation of about £3bn”.
Compared with ITV’s current enterprise value of about £3.3bn, he added, this meant that the broadcast side of the company traded at close to zero.
If a deal was to be struck, it would mark the culmination of more than a decade of speculation about the future of the business. The company regularly reviewed its business units, including its studios arm, said one person close to the group, and has so far not made any move towards a break-up.
There are compelling reasons for keeping the businesses together, with ITV Studios feeding hit shows such as Love Island to its broadcasting stablemate, as well as selling them elsewhere in the world.
But these arguments could be surmountable, said one person familiar with ITV’s thinking, especially given the financial logic of a break-up of businesses that would be worth more to the market separate than together.
Rival executives think that the likelihood of a deal is better than in past years, with McCall in her eighth year in charge at the group and potentially looking to set out a defining legacy.
McCall saw the industrial logic of creating a British TV production powerhouse, said one person familiar with her thinking, with any merger likely to see efforts to keep the combined studios business remaining in the UK.
ITV’s management has also been frustrated by the lack of value being given to its two businesses, according to one person familar with the situation, despite signs that its investment in growing a digital TV platform, ITVX, to replace its waning traditional linear broadcasting service was paying off.
In its last set of results, ITV reported 14 per cent growth in streaming hours and a 15 per cent increase in digital advertising revenue in the nine months to September 30 for ITVX.
Some shareholders, while supportive of moves to consider M&A, will still need to be reassured that the price is right for the deal this time. Last year, some balked a the high price being asked for All3Media, according to those close to the situation.
Analysts say that setting out a clear future for the broadcasting arm will be essential to make any deal. The UK government is also expected to want to ensure that the UK’s second-largest public-sector broadcaster — legally known as Channel 3, and required by law to provide “beneficial” content — can thrive on its own.
Panmure Liberum analyst Johnathan Barrett said that a separation would lead to “ambiguity about getting it right without significant help from within ITV [even] before the complexity of the Channel 3 licence regime and public service broadcast obligation”.
