Takeover of RTL Belgium complete

The takeover of RTL Belgium by DPG Media and Rossel is complete. The media groups announced the finalization on Thursday.

RTL Belgium operates various radio and television stations in French-speaking Belgium. In June last year, DPG Media - owner of TV broadcaster VTM and newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws - and Rossel - publisher of newspaper Le Soir - announced that they would each take over half of the company. They will pay the German-Luxembourgish group RTL 250 million euros.

The media companies announced Thursday that the deal is done. On Tuesday, the Belgian Competition Authority gave its approval for the takeover, on condition that radio station Nostalgie (part of Mediahuis) can remain a customer of advertising company IP (a subsidiary of RTL Belgium).

In a statement, RTL Belgium's employee representatives refer to the takeover as a "milestone" in the company's history and congratulate DPG Media and Rossel. "This double rapprochement between North and South and between different media (audiovisual, digital and print) could be a real opportunity to strengthen RTL Belgium's position in our market."

In order to discover "their vision and intentions", the staff representatives directed "around a hundred" questions to the directors of both media groups. They insist on maintaining employment and protecting the independence of their programmes, among other things.

© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM