News | RTL Group | Luxembourg/Cologne, 06/28/2021

RTL Group Sells RTL Belgium To DPG Media And Groupe Rossel

RTL Group today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of RTL Belgium to the Belgian media companies DPG Media and Groupe Rossel. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Q4/2021. The total consideration amounts to €250 million.

Press Release of RTL Group

28 June 2021, Luxembourg/Cologne
RTL Group today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of RTL Belgium to the Belgian media companies DPG Media and Groupe Rossel. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Q4/2021.

The total consideration amounts to €250 million. RTL Group’s shareholders will benefit from the cash proceeds in line with the stated dividend policy. RTL Group was the majority shareholder of RTL Belgium for 33 years, before taking full ownership of RTL Belgium in December 2020.

Elmar Heggen, COO and Deputy CEO of RTL Group, says: “DPG Media and Groupe Rossel are strong cross-media companies that are well equipped to accelerate RTL Belgium’s digital transformation. The sale is in line with our strategy and the best strategic option for RTL Belgium, its dedicated employees and our shareholders.”

Elmar Heggen continues: “We would like to thank the management and the team of RTL Belgium for their performance, passion and commitment. Today, RTL Belgium stands for audience proximity, independent information, pluralism of opinion and high-quality entertainment. We are looking forward to the continued cooperation with RTL Belgium, for example with our technical service provider BCE in Luxembourg and the streaming technology company Bedrock.” RTL Belgium’s three free TV channels – RTL-TVI (family, general interest), Club RTL (children, sports, classic movies and series) and Plug RTL (fiction, young culture, reality TV) – form the leading family of TV channels in French-speaking Belgium. RTL Belgium’s radio stations comprise Bel RTL (talk, general interest), Radio Contact (music) and the digital station Mint (pop rock music). The business unit also operates the streaming service RTL Play and the news website RTLInfo.be. For RTL Group, J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisor for the transaction, Linklaters acted as legal counsel and KPMG as transaction advisor.