Takeover speculation surrounds Setanta

Premier League football broadcaster Setanta Sports was at the centre of takeover speculation today after reports of a £1bn (€1.3bn)-plus offer for the business.

The Irish company received the unsolicited approach from a unnamed European media company before Christmas and the interest could spark a flood of rival offers, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said.

BT, Virgin Media and US giant Disney – owner of the ESPN sports television network – are all mooted as potential bidders for the business.

Setanta was founded in 1992 but scored a major breakthrough in May 2006 when it broke BSkyB’s monopoly on live Premiership matches.

It paid £392m (€526m) for the rights to 46 top flight games each season under a three-year deal which began in August 2007.

The broadcaster – which was unavailable for comment on the story – now has more than three million subscribers, including two million via the Virgin Media platform.

As well as the Premier League, it has also landed rights for most away matches featuring the home nations and the Republic of Ireland in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, including England’s trips to Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs – also a shareholder in the business – has been asked by fellow investors to handle potential offers for the business, the Sunday Telegraph said. Goldman was unavailable for comment.

According to the report, Goldman owns around a fifth of the business, with 20% stakes also held by private equity firms Doughty Hanson and Balderton Capital.

The two founders of the business. Irishmen Michael O’Rourke and Leonard Ryan, are also said to own around a fifth of the company between them.

Setanta Sports is joint owner with Virgin Media of Setanta Sports News, the 24-hour sports news channel, launched as a rival to BSkyB in November last year.

The broadcaster operates ten channels in the UK, Ireland, North America and Australia, reaching around 50 million digital homes across the world.