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.

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.

AID had been in talks with Deloitte, the accountant appointed by the High Court to sell a stake in ATV, on buying the 52.4 per cent interest controlled by its de facto boss, Wong Ching, through his relative, Wong Ben-koon.

"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."