ProSiebenSat.1: chairman of executive board to leave in 2018

(CercleFinance.com) - Germany's ProSiebenSat.
1 Media said on Monday that Thomas Ebeling, chairman of its executive board since the beginning of 2009, will leave the company in February 2018.

The German broadcaster said it had begun to look for a successor some time ago and that it will appoint a successor "in due course."

Thomas Ebeling's contract was supposed to run until mid-2019.

With Thomas Ebeling's step down and with the shares down over 30% year-to-date, ProSieben now flags up as an obvious M&A target, analysts at Liberum said.

"We believe NBCUniversal, the TV network owned by Comcast, could be interested in the company," the brokerage firm said, which has a "neutral" rating on the stock.

Liberum said NBC has previously expressed interest for ProSieben, adding that the US giant knows the German TV ad market which could could offer significant cost synergies.

In the meantime, shares in ProSiebenSat.1 were jumping 3.9% at 23.3 euros on Frankfurt's DAX index.

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