Sanoma (PK) (USOTC:SWYBY)
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Finnish media company Sanoma Oyj (SAA1V.HE) said Friday it has submitted an offer to acquire German media group ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG's (PSM.XE) free-to-air TV assets in the Netherlands and Belgium, together with local partners.

"There can be no certainty that Sanoma will be selected for negotiations or that such negotiations would result in a transaction," Sanoma said.

Sanoma declined to comment further on the offer or on the local partners it has joined forces with to submit the offer.

Debt-loaded ProSiebenSat.1 is controlled by private-equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Permira and said several months ago it is evaluating the sale of assets in Benelux and Scandinavia. Those units were formerly part of SBS Broadcasting Group, which was also owned by KKR and Permira and combined with ProSiebenSat.1 in 2007.

A person familiar with the matter on Friday said bids for the Benelux assets were due today, while those for the Scandinavian assets units don't have to be submitted until the end of next week. The person also said Sanoma's local partners are Big Brother creator Jon de Mol and Belgian media entrepreneur Wouter Vandenhaute, neither of whom were immediately reachable to comment.

Dutch media group TMG and Swedish broadcasting company Modern Times Group MTG AB (MTG-B.SK) have said they are interested in the assets.

Buyout firm Hellman & Friedman and former SBS executive and ProSieben management board member Patrick Tillieux have been working on a joint bid.

-By Niclas Rolander, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3102; niclas.rolander@dowjones.com

(Philipp Grontzki in Frankfurt contributed to this article.)