Mathias Döpfner, KKR Said to Near Deal on Axel Springer Split

(Bloomberg) — German billionaire Mathias Döpfner and KKR are nearing a deal to split up the media giant Axel Springer, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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The parties could make an announcement about the planned split as soon as this week, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private. The deal, which was first reported by the Financial Times, could value the whole company at €13.5 billion ($15 billion), including more than €10 billion for the classifieds business.

The parties are still hammering out final details and the talks could be delayed or fall apart, the people said.

Talks of a split have been taking place for months. The separation would mark an end to a nearly five-year partnership after Döpfner and Friede Springer, the founder’s widow who controlled the company for years after his death, teamed up with KKR to take the company private.

While Axel Springer’s media side has focused its expansion on the US in the last decade — buying Politico and BI — the company is still influential in its home market. It owns the nearly 80-year-old Die Welt broadsheet and the Bild tabloid, Germany’s best-selling newspaper.

Representatives of Axel Springer and KKR declined to comment.

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