TV4 owner Bonnier appoints M&A chief

The parent of Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4, Bonnier, has appointed a head of corporate development and M&A.

Fredrik Linton’s role will be to manage acquisitions and divestments business at the media group, as well as assessing Bonnier’s existing holdings on an ongoing basis.

“In our current circumstances where we need to be active in assessing our holdings, he can provide a strategic look at the companies that are already part of Bonnier today as well as the relevant companies and markets outside,” said Bonnier CEO Tomas Franzén.

Linton joins Bonnier from Sweden-based telecoms and digital TV group Tele2, where he was head of M&A between 2005 and 2013. While there, he oversaw the sale of Tele2’s Belgian holdings to Dutch-based operator KPN, French holdings to SFR in France and Spanish and Italian assets to Vodafone Italy.

Bonnier’s media assets include various magazines and trade business titles, TV4 and its channel bouquet, Swedish media group Svensk Filmindustri, and feature film producer Sonet Film, which has made moves to enter the TV space.

Svensk Filmindustri is part of the Bonnier Growth Media division, which includes subsidiaries such as Tre Vänner and Scandinavian Studios, whose founding CEO Anna Bråkenhielm left in 2013 and was subsequently replaced by Strix exec Sebastian Ljung and FremantleMedia Sweden managing director Claes Leinstedt.

Bonnier bought former ITV Studios Scandinavia boss Bråkenhielm’s shares in Scandinavian Studios upon her exit.