MEDIA ASSETS Inspired investments

Earlier this year Remgro made it clear its media ambitions would be driven exclusively through its 31,9% stake in Sabido Investments.

Sabido holds a variety of broadcast assets — most importantly, e.tv — and has Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) as the majority shareholder.

Sabido has proved to be an inspired investment for Remgro. The stake is now worth R2,3bn, more than double the value of the original investment. Sabido also chipped in a not-insubstantial R148m to Remgro’s headline earnings in the year to June.

Remgro’s decision not to pursue media ambitions outside Sabido is not surprising, given the company’s recent launch of a multichannel offering that is aired across various platforms, including digital terrestrial television and satellite.

Indications are that Sabido will have sufficient cash flow from its core free-toair television offering in e.tv to fund the multichannel offering.

Of course, Remgro, with decades of experience in building brands and honing funding models, would still play a key role in further endeavours to expand Sabido’s television offering.

With HCI’s stake in Sabido now ensconced in Seardel Investment Corp, there have been increasingly audible whispers about Remgro match-making a media conglomerate by gently nudging Kagiso Tiso Holdings to bring highly profitable radio-broadcast specialist Kagiso Media closer to Sabido.