Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) announced on monday that it has entered into a number of agreements with Bell and separately with Shaw Media, that extends Corus’ portfolio of Radio assets into Ottawa, consolidates Corus’ ownership of ABC Spark and TELETOON, and enables Corus to become a significant media contributor in the Québec and the French-language specialty television market.
Corus has reached an agreement with Bell to acquire the 50% remaining ownership interest in TELETOON and two Ottawa-based radio stations, CKQB-FM (The Bear 106.9) and CJOT-FM (boom 99.7), that Bell will acquire as part of the acquisition of Astral Media Inc. pending regulatory approval. With these acquisitions, TELETOON, Télétoon (French), TELETOON Retro, Télétoon Rétro (French), Cartoon Network (Canada) and radio stations, CKQB-FM and CJOT-FM, will be wholly owned by Corus. In addition, Corus has reached an agreement with Bell and Shaw Media to acquire each of their respective 50% interests in the French-language specialty channels Historia and Séries+. Certain transactions are subject to approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Competition Bureau.
In a separate transaction, Corus has entered into an agreement with Shaw Media that will result in Corus acquiring the remaining 49% interest in the successful specialty television service ABC Spark from Shaw Media. As part of the agreement, Corus will sell its 20% interest in Food Network Canada to Shaw Media.
“These transactions represent a transformative opportunity for Corus,” said John Cassaday, President and Chief Executive Officer, Corus Entertainment. “The consolidation of TELETOON and the addition of the popular services Historia and Séries+ give Corus the scale to expand into the growing French-language specialty television market. As a well-capitalized company, Corus can contribute to the growth of this market and provide new opportunities for the production community, while adding greater diversity to the system and more choice to French-speaking audiences.
The addition of the Ottawa radio stations, CKQB-FM and CJOT-FM, has been a long-standing goal and allows us to bring our skills and passion for radio to another major Canadian market, while delivering exceptional programming and local information to the Ottawa community. Finally, full ownership of ABC Spark, based on the highly successful ABC Family channel in the U.S., and now widely distributed across Canada, represents an excellent growth opportunity for Corus.”
The combined acquisition price for these assets is $494 million Cdn. The overall transaction is valued at an LTM EBITDA multiple of 10.4x.
