Bertelsmann looking to make European acquisitions

The German media group, Bertelsmann, is looking to make a number of new acquisitions in television, music rights, and education across Europe.

Hartmut Ostrowski, the chief executive of the company that owns RTL TV and Random House among other big names, said that they are looking at a number of options in terms of mergers and acquisitions. He did warn, however, that current economic jitters are likely to make deals quite difficult to complete.

One of the areas where the company is looking to diversify is the education section, while other potential acquisitions include buying up parts of high-profile record company, EMI. Company executives have shied away from commenting on that matter, however.

Speaking about the market difficulties facing the acquisition process, Mr Ostrowski said, "We simply think that we have to be very careful."

The company's chief financial officer, Thomas Rabe, said that the market conditions for the first half of 2011 had indicated that the prices being asked for by sellers were beyond what the buyers were willing to pay. He predicted that this discrepancy between expectations would only get bigger in the coming months.

Mr Rabe explained that this could be attributed to increased uncertainty about the global economy and companies’ earnings prospects, which would make valuing acquisition targets more difficult.

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