Manwin Going Public? Or Maybe Not... (Yet)

Fresh from AVN:

Manwin Holding S.ar.l announced today that it has made a proposal to the Board of Directors of New Frontier Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOOF) to acquire the company for cash consideration of $1.50 per share of outstanding common stock.

This is hardly the first proposal New Frontier Media has gotten. Longkloof Limited offered $1.35 per share in cash just 2 weeks ago.

Is Manwin planning to go public and are they using this takeover as a way avoid having to jump through the proverbial hoops? Or is this part of their strategy to monetize their existing content library by moving in the world of that old medium, television?

From their PR:

Manwin believes that by combining New Frontier Media's transactional television business with its own and by leveraging Manwin's online assets, including both content and traffic, it will be able to offer even more compelling programming to pay TV distributors and drive additional customers to the pay TV experience.

In discussing the proposal, Fabian Thylmann, Manwin Managing Partner, said: "Our recent experience with Playboy TV proves to us the value of TV as a distribution platform, and we have been seeking ways to foster additional business in that segment of the industry. New Frontier Media's business is a natural fit which should create synergies immediately benefiting both Manwin's pay TV providers and their customers."

Fabien already expressed similar thoughts in his keynote speech back in January. Seeing that they are already sitting on a big pile of branded content that has already been paid for by their web properties, a further move into TV/IPTV territory will undoubtedly create a very profitable revenue stream for Manwin.