'Rice cracker king' offers lifeline
Taiwanese billionaire Tsai Eng-meng has agreed to inject funds to shore up the finances of loss-making Asia Television, triggering changes in the broadcaster's shareholding structure, according to informed sources.
Mr Tsai, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at US$2.6 billion, signed a preliminary agreement last week to become a substantial shareholder of Alnery, a company that controls 47.58 per cent of ATV.
Alnery is jointly owned by Payson Cha Mou-sing's family, ATV's dominant stakeholder, ABN Amro and former ATV chief executive Louis Page.
Mr Tsai and his family are believed to have bought ABN Amro's stake in Alnery, and the deal is believed to be worth several hundred million Hong Kong dollars, according to the sources.
In 2007, the Cha family and ABN Amro injected HK$800 million into ATV and became its dominant shareholders. The Cha family also owns another 10.75 per cent stake in ATV through Panfair, with the remaining shares held by Phoenix TV chairman Liu Changle, businessman and former ATV chief executive Chan Wing-kee, and mainland conglomerate Citic Group.
Multiple sources have confirmed that fresh capital is being brought in to sustain ATV through changing the shareholding structure of Alnery, in particular the ABN Amro stake.
