New Zealand TV3's owners in receivership

Mediaworks, the owner of TV3 and a network of radio stations in New Zealand, is being put into receivership so it can restructure its way out of hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

Financial firm KordaMentha was appointed on Monday and will oversee the receivership of the company and subsidiaries which include RadioWorks.

KordaMentha said the receivership is an unusually good one in that no jobs will be lost and suppliers and contractors will be paid.

Director Brendon Gibson said it would be business as usual as MediaWorks is profitable, but the debt structure was unsustainable.

Gibson said the proposed new owner has agreed to buy MediaWorks for an undisclosed sum of money and retain the 1,400 employees on the same contracts.

Businessman Rod McGeoch is the proposed chairman of the company intending to buy MediaWorks. Television producer Julie Christie would also be on the new board.

In 2007, Australian private equity firm Ironbridge bought MediaWorks and its debt, but got caught out by the global financial meltdown and could never afford to pay off the interest on the debt. In the end, the company got into 700 million NZ dollars (560 million U.S. dollars) worth of debt.

Brendon Gibson said the secured lenders - the banks - have agreed to reduce that debt to 100 million NZ dollars in return for a stake in the new company.

TV3 was previously in receivership in 1990, before being bought by Canada's CanWest Global Communications.

MediaWorks operates the TV3 and TV FOUR channels. Its radio stations include RadioLive, The Edge and More FM.