TV3’s owner scraps plan for sixth investment fund

TV3's private equity owner Doughty Hanson has scrapped plans for a sixth investment fund and will instead concentrate on "maximising the considerable value of its remaining portfolio companies in funds IV and V", the company said yesterday.

Fund IV includes TV3, the Ballymount-based terrestrial television station that Doughty Hanson paid €265 million to acquire in August 2006.

Its decision will heighten speculation about the future ownership of TV3, after it emerged recently that the Irish station had been the subject some unsolicited bids in the past 12 months.

TV3's chief executive David McRedmond declined to comment to The Irish Times on Doughty Hanson's decision to cease fundraising for a new fund or the unsolicited bids it has received.

In a statement, Doughty Hanson said the “continuing uncertainty for both employees and investors regarding the fundraising process” had resulted in its decision to “no longer pursue its current fundraising efforts”.

Instead, Richard Hanson, chairman and co-founder, will lead a team of investment professionals to “work with the management teams of each of the remaining portfolio companies to maximise the value of these investments for limited partners”, the group said.

Doughty Hanson’s chief executive Stephen Marquardt added: “We have focused consistently on taking all steps necessary to achieve strong exits for our portfolio investments and we will now be more focused than ever on achieving that ambition.”

The four companies remaining in Fund IV are Balta, KP1, TV3 and Zobele; in Fund V are Asco, Eurofiber, LM Wind Power and TMF Group.

It is not clear how much TV3 might fetch in any sale by Doughty Hanson but it would be substantially less than the sum it paid nine years ago.

In December 2013, TV3's debt with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation was acquired through a refinancing by Doughty Hanson and Blue Bay.