C&M, the third largest cable company in South Korea, is planning to acquire GS Gangnam and GS Ulsan Broadcasting Corps at 370~380 billion won ($328.7 million).

According to the industry, C&M concluded an agreement with GS to acquire 84.8% share of GS Gangnam Broadcasting and 99.8% share of GS Ulsan Broadcasting from GS Homeshopping. The total cost of the acquisition is estimated as 250 billion won for GS Gangnam and 120 billion~130 billion for GS Ulsan.

“Both parties reached an agreement on the mergers and acquisition (M&A) process, and gained the approval of the Korea Communication Commission (KCC). They will be settling last minute details and concluding a final agreement soon,” said an official working for the M&A deal in hand.

C&M is a multiple system operator (MSO), owning 15 cable TV stations in the Seoul and Gyeonggi region including C&M Gyeonggi Dongbu Cable TV and C&M Gangdong Cable TV. As of June, the firm holds a total of 2.14 million households as subscribers, ranking third place for MSOs in Korea after Tbroad (21 stations, 3.35 million households) and CJ Hellovision (18 stations, 3.08 million households). However, C&M is the leading cable company in the capital metropolitan area, with the most number of subscribers in the region.

Through this acquisition, C&M will be gaining 460,000 new households as subscribers from GS Gangnam and GS Ulsan, which will raise its total number of subscribers to 2.6 million households.

Last year, GS Gangnam recorded 60.8 billion won in sales and 7.1 billion won in operating profits, while GS Ulsan recorded 37.8 billion won in sales and 5.7 billion won in operating profits.

[Written by Sung-ki Jin, Beom-ju Jeon - Samji Chung, edited by Soyoung Chung]

By 정삼지

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]