Media entrepreneurs to create China alternative investment group
Chinese media entrepreneur Bruno Wu and Thomas Middelhoff, former CEO of German media group Bertelsmann and Arcandor, are to form a China-focused media and investment joint venture, pooling assets with revenues of $1-2 billion.
The firm, known as BT Capital, will combine the partners' existing media interests in education, music, news and other assets as well as making private equity investments in TV, film, internet and other businesses in China and Western markets, the Financial Times reported.
Middelhoff will hold a minority stake in the new firm. Wu's wife Yang Lan, a Chinese television presenter, will be a director. Details on fundraising were not disclosed.
"All the assets are global assets, which already have or soon have a China market expansion strategy," said Wu, founder of Sun Media Group. Last year, Sun Media teamed up with Harvest Fund Management to create an $800 million private equity fund that will back local movie productions.
It is said that Wu and Middelhoff are creating BT Capital more than a decade after their first joint venture plan, which was stopped in its tracks when Bertelsmann removed Middelhoff.
BT Capital's private equity investment strategy will focus on "Western, midsized profitable media companies to whom we can offer something by offering them access to the Chinese market," Middlehoff said. Acquisition targets include a television production company specializing in entertainment formats.
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