Endemol Puts Time Warners $1.4B Offer On Hold Pending Debt-For-Equity Swap

The creditors of Endemol — the Dutch reality TV company whose series include Big Brother – are hoping that they can elicit a higher bid following a restructuring. They’ve set a December 13 deadline for a planned debt-for-equity swap designed to reduce the company’s debt to $670M from $3.7B, Italy’s La Repubblica says.Apollo Management, Centerbridge, and Providence Equity Partners and banks including Barclays and RBS are among Endemol’sbiggest creditors.Company officials made no secret of their disdain for the Time Warner offer, which one insider referred to as “rock bottom.” It values the company at seven times its expected $192M earnings this year before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) — far less than the 12 times EBITDA multiple that Rupert Murdoch paid for his daughter Elisabeth’s Shine Group. Endemol founder John De Mols investment vehicle Cyrte is said to have wooed Ronald Goes, head of international TV production at Warner Bros, into making the bid; the Dutch Time Warner executive used to be COO of Endemol.Cyrte and the other leading shareholders — former prime minister Silvio Berlusconis Mediaset andGoldman Sachs Capital Partners — are exploring several options for the company.For example, Mediaset has tried to persuade UK broadcaster ITV to buy it.