Discovery Communications Inc said it would purchase 12 Nordic television channels from Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG for about $1.7 billion to add fiction and sports to its program offerings.The acquisition is Discovery's largest ever and gives the company, whose channels include Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, a firmer foothold in Europe and sweetens the exit for ProSieben's controlling private equity investors.The sale of the Nordic Channels, one of ProSiebenSat's best performing units, positions private equity investors KKR & Co and Permira -- who together own 88 percent of ProSieben's voting shares -- for a hefty dividend from the German media group."It means the private equity owners are able to place up to their full 53 percent stake on the market at some point," said Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Jones.
Discovery Communications, Inc. (Discovery) is a global nonfiction media and entertainment company that provide programming across multiple distribution platforms worldwide. Shares of DISCA traded higher by 0.16% or $0.095/share to $60.36. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $39.33 and as high as $63.20. On average, 1286470 shares of DISCA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 627719.
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