Permira sells Premiere shares

Permira has cut its stake in German TV company Premiere following its March IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Permira, along with Austrian bank Bawag, Bayerische Landesbank and HypoVereinsbank, raised €493m from the remaining shares.

The pay-TV operator was floated in March with a market capitalisation of €2.3bn. At the time of listing, Permira cut its stake from 55% to 23.7%. Following this new offer, the firm owns 5.9%, and the banks have cut their interest from a combined 8.6% to 2.6%.

Permira’s Europe II Fund took a 65.13% share in Premiere in February 2003, with Bayerische Landesbank and the HypoVereinsbank each acquiring a 10% interest and the Austrian Bank fur Arbeit und Wirtschaft (BAWAG) acquiring 3.5%.