German team advises Acun Medya on 50 percent stake in German multichannel sports platform SPORT1

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the Turkish media group Acun Medya on the acquisition of 50 percent of the shares in Sport1 GmbH. Acun Medya is acquiring the shares from Sport1 Medien AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swiss-based media group Highlight Communications AG, which remains a shareholder of Sport1 GmbH.

Acun Medya, based in Istanbul, is the internationally active production company of founder and reality TV producer Acun Ilicali, which owns the Turkish TV channel TV8, among others. With its investment in Sport1 GmbH, the company is entering the German market for the first time. As a new shareholder, Acun Medya will make its entertainment and sports entertainment programs available to Sport1 GmbH. A German adaptation of the international sports reality format “EXATLON” is already scheduled to premiere in mid-September 2024.

Sport1 GmbH, based in Ismaning near Munich, combines all TV, online, mobile, audio and social media activities under its umbrella brand of the same name. The sports media company's portfolio includes the free TV channel SPORT1 as well as the pay TV channels SPORT1+ and eSPORTS1, which are offered on various platforms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Acun Medya was advised by a German Norton Rose Fulbright team led by partner Nils Rahlf and Counsel Jan-Peter Heise (both Frankfurt, Corporate/M&A).

Rahlf, who also leads the German Corporate/M&A practice of Norton Rose Fulbright, comments: “We are pleased that we were able to support Acun Medya in this complex and strategically important transaction, in which we as a law firm were able to demonstrate our strength in the media sector and in advising on cross-border transactions.”

In addition to Rahlf and Heise, the advisory team for Acun Medya also consisted of Dr Tim Schaper (partner, Hamburg), Sven Klüppel (Senior Associate, Frankfurt), Dr Tobias Teichner (Senior Associate, Hamburg), Dr Noby Cyriac (Transaction Lawyer, Hamburg) (all Antitrust / FDI), Dr Christoph Ritzer (partner, Frankfurt), Dr Ingemar Kartheuser (Counsel, Hamburg/Frankfurt), Markus Müller (Counsel, München), Natalia Filkina (Senior Associate, Frankfurt) (all IT/Data protection), Claudia Posluschny (partner), Roman Kalitsev (Associate) (both Munich, Employment), André Hartmann (Associate), Felix Reiner (Associate) (both Frankfurt, Corporate/M&A) as well as Prof. Dr Claus Pegatzky (Counsel, Frankfurt, Public business and media law).

Tax advice was provided by Tino Duttiné (Partner, Frankfurt).