Albert Frère and his business partner Paul Desmarais are delighted to announce that Groupe Bruxelles Lambert  (GBL), Bertelsmann and Pearson have agreed on April 7, 2000, to merge Pearson TV, CLT-UFA and Audiofina.

 

The alliance is in line with GBL and Electrafina’s intention to reinforce their position in the European media sector, already initiated in 1997 with the combination of CLT and UFA.  Since then, GBL has participated, through its joint venture with Bertelsmann, to the development of CLT-UFA as the largest broadcasting group in Europe. GBL's  stake in CLT-UFA, through the quoted company Audiofina, represents presently nearly 50 % of the estimated value of GBL.

 

GBL and Electrafina are investment holding companies controlled by the families Frère and Desmarais. GBL and Electrafina have a market capitalization of respectively 5.5 billion EUR and 4.9 billion EUR.