SPH divests stakes in Mediacorp entities

SINGAPORE Press Holdings Limited (SPH) is divesting its stakes in Mediacorp entities, it announced on Friday.

The stakes of 20 per cent in Mediacorp TV Holdings and 40 per cent in Mediacorp Press will be divested for S$18 million.

The transaction is expected to be completed at the end of September and SPH expects to record a writedown of about S$31 million in its books pursuant to this undertaking.

The proposed divestment follows Mediacorp's decision to cease its newspaper Today.

Executive director and CEO-designate of SPH, Ng Yat Chung, said the proposed divestment will allow SPH to focus on its core media business.

"Free to air television is not core to SPH's business and the divestment of the stake in Today follows Mediacorp's decision to turn it into a fully digital product. This rationalisation will allow us to focus our energies on serving our audience and advertisers best through a suite of strong media products across the print, digital and radio platforms," he said.

SPH has 17 newspaper titles which cater to different interests and needs.

Apart from its flagship dailies in four languages - The Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu - there are freesheet The New Paper, business daily The Business Times, Chinese evening papers Shin Min Daily and Lianhe Wanbao, and student publications.

On an average day, 2.5 million individuals or 59 per cent of people above 15 years old, read one of SPH's news publications in print copies or one of its digital platforms.