Bertelsmann Plans to Spend $3.9 Billion on Deals Over 3 Years

Bertelsmann SE, Europe’s largest media company, said it plans to spend as much as 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion) on acquisitions over the next three years as it seeks to grow and limit its reliance on Europe.

The planned sale of a 17.3 percent stake in broadcaster RTL Group SA plus about an annual 500 million euros of net cash flow will fill Bertelsmann’s war chest, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Rabe told reporters in Berlin today. The company will focus on individual deals worth “a couple hundred millions of euros” rather than a single big acquisition that “wouldn’t fit Bertelsmann’s risk profile,” he said.