STOCKHOLM – Ericsson’s sale of the majority stake of its Media Solutions business to private equity firm One Equity Partners is proving to be “more complex” than first thought and will likely not close until year end, the Swedish tech maker said Tuesday.
As part of the ongoing work to close the transaction, an independent brand known as MediaKind has been formed and is developing the business in line with a new business plan. Ericsson announced the sale in January.
“The carve-out of MediaKind from Ericsson’s global structure to create a new company, jointly owned with One Equity Partners, is proceeding with great diligence”, Ericsson said in a statement. “With employees and customers located all over the world, the establishment of appropriate operating entities is necessary to begin operations as an independent company and to ensure a smooth transition for customers and employees. This process has been more complex than originally expected and is now expected to be completed around year end instead of Q3 2018 as previously communicated.”
In Canada, Bell Canada (Fibe TV), Telus (Optik), SaskTel (maxTV) all utilize Media Solutions technology for their TV services, and Cogeco Connexion said last month that it will offer it to cable customers starting next year.
The MediaFirst platform is a media-optimized cloud-based TV platform that provides a converged multiscreen experience including Pay TV in-home, TV Everywhere and OTT services, and embraces all content sources and delivery networks.
