Sony to bid for Kirch media bits

Founder and former media magnate Leo Kirch watches group unravel

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Germany's Commerzbank, publisher WAZ Gruppe, and Sony Corp's Columbia TriStar have held talks to jointly buy film rights trader and broadcaster KirchMedia, according to published reports.

KirchMedia, part of former media magnate Leo Kirch's companies, filed for protection from its creditors in April after failing to restructure 6.5 billion euros ($5.72 billion) of debt.

The company is expected to be put into formal administration before the end of the month after its new management's attempts to agree a finance plans with shareholders and creditors came to nought, the Financial Times said.

The managers, interim court administrator and advisers then plan to spin off the business's main assets -- a 52.2 percent stake in Germany's largest broadcaster ProSiebenSAT.1, the sports rights trading business and loss-making sports channel DSF -- into a new company free of liabilities, the paper said.

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Commerzbank, Germany's third-biggest listed bank and Essen, Germany-based WAZ Gruppe are each expected to take 40 percent of the company, while Columbia TriStar will take 20 percent, Reuters said.

The last of the financial details are being worked out in the coming days and the board of Commerzbank still has to vote on the deal, sources told Reuters, adding there is no other serious bidding consortium for KirchMedia.

The proposal had been discussed on Thursday by representatives of the three consortium members, other creditor banks including BayernLB, HVB Group and DZ Bank, and the head of KirchMedia Wolfgang van Betteray and insolvency administrator Michael Jaffe.

Neither Kirch Group nor Commerzbank would comment on Sunday. WAZ Gruppe and Columbia could not immediately be reached for comment.