KUALA LUMPUR, MANILA — Media Prima Berhad (MPB), Malaysia’s largest integrated media group, is embarking on a major regional expansion with the establishment of a private-equity fund to raise between US$100 million and $150 million to invest in media assets in emerging Asian markets over the next five to seven years.The MPB Strategic Media Fund Limited Partnership will begin with a RM100-million (approximately US$31-million) investment in the Associated Broadcasting Company’s (ABC) main TV station, ABC5, in the Philippines.The Media Fund will be seeking five to eight investors, mainly from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. MPB, the fund’s anchor investor, will manage it via MPB Fund Management Company. It expects to own less than 20% of the fund upon its inception by this quarter.The Malaysian media group’s first task is to turn around the loss-making ABC5, which currently captures a mere 1% of TV viewership and advertising expenditure in the Philippines.“This is a challenge but we are confident,” said MPB group managing director and CEO Abdul Rahman Ahmad, who pinned ABC5’s difficulties mainly on a lack of resources, which he believes MPB would help tackle.In line with local regulations, there will be no equity investments by the Media Fund in ABC5. Instead, MPB has set up a 70%-owned Philippine subsidiary, MPB Primedia Inc, with the remaining stake held by SBC Markwendell Inc, which is involved in the trading of air time. The new company will enter into a block air-time and consultancy agreement with the station while MPB will provide the content and manage the sale of air time.Primedia will appoint a local CEO with extensive experience in a multinational company in the creative industry. Meanwhile, MPB will make Dato’ Sri Farid Ridzuan, who is MPB’s group CEO, TV Network, CEO of MPB Fund Management Company and MPB International Division.Dato’ Sri Farid has been credited for transforming TV3 into the leading Malaysian station and for the turnaround of MPB’s 8TV, ntv7 and TV9, propelling the media group to become the biggest in Malaysia, controlling 54% of TV viewership.Dato’ Sri Farid and Primedia’s CEO will have a herculean task developing ABC5 into a third key player in a market already 80% dominated by giants ABS-CBN Broadcasting and GMA Network, leaving ABC5 to share the rest with 16 other smaller stations.However, ABC5, established in 1960, has its strength as the country’s third-oldest. Since a group led by local businessman Antonio ‘Tony Boy’ Cojuangco acquired it in October 2003, ABC5 has seen improvements in several areas. It was named ‘Best TV Station’ in the local 2005 KBP Golden Dove Awards and has also won accolades for some of its shows.MPB sees good prospects not just for ABC5 but also for the entire Philippine broadcast industry. Reports say TV penetration in the country is currently close to 73% while total advertising spend has been growing strongly in recent years, with TV accounting for more than 75% of the $2.8 billion recorded in 2006.ABC5’s content line-up will be progressively revamped and potential programming ideas carved from both countries’ formats, for instance, showing in Malaysia the dramas produced in the Philippines and vice versa, said Abdul Rahman. “It may not be just the same content. We can produce two versions for the same format or drama scripts.”Added Dato’ Sri Farid: “Our emphasis on brand identity will enable us to determine viable content for our target audience in the Philippines. We will outsource programming to some production houses in the Philippines and ... develop local talents for the TV network.”