From Pacific Media Watch
By Leanne Jorari in Port Moresby
After almost a year of negotiations, paired with several road bumps along the way, Media Niugini Limited is now 100 percent Papua New Guinean-owned.
State owned enterprise Telikom PNG, the country’s leading telecommunications company, has become the sole owner of EMTV’s parent company, Media Niugini Limited, with the announcement in Suva that Fiji Television Limited had divested all its shares.
Fiji Television had owned EMTV for a decade, after Australia’s Channel Nine network ownership.
In a closed-door meet yesterday in Suva, Fiji, the shares were transferred and the handover/takeover completed between major shareholder of Fiji TV, Fijian Holdings Limited and the SOE.
The CEO of Telikom PNG, Michael Donnelly, praised the Media Niugini team for their job well done and promised to remain in the race to win the business and continue the form the company has kept throughout the years.
The acquisition of Media Niugini, paired with the recent purchase of radio station FM 100 will allow Telikom to delve into the media industry using the synergies between the organisations to invest in multi-dimensional platforms, ushering the entrance of the digital era in Papua New Guinea.
According to Donnelly, all parties were in agreement with the K20 million (NZ$10.2 million) asking price with a mandatory deposit of K2 million, paid by Telikom PNG towards the end of 2015.
In Suva, Fiji Village also reported Fiji Television Limited’s divestment of its shares.
Since mid-last year, Fiji TV has been on the lookout for potential partners for Media Niugini Limited and in October, the company was approached by Telikom PNG.
