ATV not dead yet, as private equity firm says it could revive deal
The final nail has not yet been hammered into ATV's coffin, with a deal to acquire the beleaguered television station still possible despite the imminent loss of its free-to-air licence.
The final nail has not yet been hammered into ATV's coffin, with a deal to acquire the beleaguered television station still possible despite the imminent loss of its free-to-air licence.
Private equity firm AID Partners Capital yesterday confirmed for the first time that it was the "white knight" that signed an agreement to buy ATV hours before Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his cabinet pulled the plug on the 58-year-old station on April 1.
"We had all the preparation and we have resources. It was a pity the government decided not to renew the licence," said Kelvin Wu King-shiu, AID's principal partner. "But I support the government's decision. If I were them, I would've done the same. This has dragged on for too long."
But Wu, whose company previously bought legendary film studio Golden Harvest and came to the rescue of HMV's Asian stores, said there was still a chance of a deal if ATV could find a way to continue to broadcast, for example by doing a deal with PCCW's new free-to-air station.
And the businessman dished the dirt on the behind-the-scenes farce in the hours before ATV's licence was scrapped.
"We had a 70-page proposal, including 30 pages of spreadsheets and a 15-year financial forecast," said Wu. "We were confident that we would be able to complete the deal."
At 5pm on March 31 - the government deadline for ATV to submit a restructuring plan - it had signed a contract and handed it to Deloitte to give to the Wongs.
But an hour later, ATV's main news led with a report that a deal had been stuck to sell the stake to internet broadcaster HKTV. HKTV boss Ricky Wong Wai-kay denied the report 14 hours later.
By 11am, the Wongs had signed. But it was too late to submit a restructuring plan, and at 6.30pm commerce minister Greg So Kam-leung announced that ATV would go off-air next year.
"We did everything we could. Whether the seller accepted was out of our control," Wu said.
AID managing partner Gilbert Ho Chi-hang said a new licence was a condition of the deal, and therefore "the contract could not be fulfilled".
But Wu said a deal could still be struck if ATV found a way to gain access to the spectrum. That could mean a deal with PCCW, which was granted a 12-year free-to-air licence.
"If there's a way to reach the audience, we will do it," Wu said.
Meanwhile, ATV executive director Ip Ka-po said in a letter to staff that three potential investors had approached it recently.
