ATHENS: The Largest Greece pay-TV firm, is the subject of two separate bids from Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc, is considering issuing a 100 million-euro ($113 million) convertible bond, Panos Papadopoulos said in an interview Thursday.
Forthnet, which on May 4 signed the extension of an agreement to air the Greece soccer championship until 2019, is in talks with Greece’s three biggest banks, National Bank of Greece SA, Piraeus Bank SA and Alpha Bank SA, for a plan to refinance its debt by issuing bonds. The company’s net debt stood at €324 million in short- term borrowings at the end of 2014. Its shares have fallen 11 percent so far this year, giving it a value of €87.9 million.
Deutsche Telekom’s Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA submitted a non-binding offer of €300 million for the purchase of the company’s pay TV service, Nova, on July 7 last year. Ten days later, a consortium of Vodafone and Wind Hellas Telecommunications submitted a joint non-binding offer of €1.70 to €1.90 per share.
