MARCH 11, 2002

Kirch to discuss asset sale today

LEO KIRCH, the boss of the troubled Kirch Group, will decide today whether or not he is going to have to sell off chunks of his media empire to keep the whole business afloat. The aim for the Kirch company, which owns the commercial rights to Formula 1, is to reduce its debt load by selling off non-core assets such as F1. The big issue is whether or not Kirch gets enough to make the sale worthwhile.

Kirch's aim is to keep hold of his TV stations in Germany. With the Germany government keen to stop Kirch's media assets falling into foreign hands it is expected that the big German banks will take some of the assets.