RTL to buy remaining Five stake for £247.6m

Publishing group United Business Media (UBM) has agreed to sell its share in Channel Five to RTL for £247.6m (€356.8m), it announced today.

European television broadcaster RTL is set to buy the 35.4% stake in a move that will give it full control of the channel.

The deal for the stake in Britain's fifth terrestrial channel is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the autumn.

Today's deal values Five at £700m (€1bn).

Five has grown its UK audience share to around 6.5% since it was founded in 1997 and first turned in an operating profit two years ago.

Luxembourg-based RTL has 31 television channels and 33 radio stations. Germany is its biggest market and other operations are in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Croatia.

It owns Fremantle Media, the television production company behind shows such as Pop Idol and The Bill.