KKR, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner are working to secure approximately €4bn ($4.2bn) in debt to finance a strategic separation of the German media giant’s classified ads businesses from its news operations, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as revealing that the proposed financing will tap the leveraged loan market and private credit funds.
The debt package seeks to leverage the reemerging appetite among lenders for leveraged buyouts (LBOs), a sector seeing renewed activity as interest rates stabilise and credit investors seek fresh opportunities.
The first tranche of the financing — a €1.95bn ($2.1bn) leveraged loan — was launched on 19 November and will part fund the spin-out of jobs platform The Stepstone Group. Investors have until 4 December to commit with the euro- and dollar-denominated term loan B set to refinance existing Axel Springer debt and provide liquidity for the company.
In early 2025, an additional €1bn debt offering will be launched for Axel Springer’s real estate ads platform, Aviv Group. This standalone loan will likely be syndicated by banks and sold to institutional investors, mirroring the Stepstone transaction.
Private lenders are organising €725m in payment-in-kind (PIK) financing at the holding company level, along with €200m to €300m in direct lending to support the operational split, which values Axel Springer at €13.5bn, with the classifieds business, including Stepstone and Aviv, accounting for over €10bn of this valuation.
Following the separation, KKR and CPPIB will hold majority stakes in the spun-off classifieds businesses, while Axel Springer will retain its core media assets, including Politico and Business Insider.
