ITV has sold its 5.5 per cent stake in French firm Thomson in its latest move to cut debt by selling non-core assets.
ITV had agreed to sell its 15.5 million shares in technology group Thomson to investment banks Citigroup and UBS. It said the sale reduced net borrowings by £172 million.
"We're delighted to have disposed of our largest non-core asset sooner than expected at a five month high," ITV chief executive Mr Charles Allen said in a statement.
UBS and Citigroup placed the shares they bought from ITV at €16.5 per share, according to market sources, and Thomson shares were trading at that level, down 0.36 per cent in Paris.
ITV said the book value of the stake was £162 million.
"It's a good price and will have a meaningful impact on debt reduction," said Mr Kingsley Wilson, analyst at Investec Securities.
Earlier this month, shareholders in the French company approved Thomson's new strategic plan, as it seeks to transform itself from a low-margin consumer electronics firm to a supplier of DVDs, film processing and other products to media groups.
The plan entails the entry of US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners into Thomson's capital, the issuance of bonds convertible into Thomson shares and a buy-back of Thomson shares to offset dilution created by the entry of Silver Lake.
The sale of the Thomson stake is ITV's second non-core asset disposal, and it follows ITV's sale of Carlton Books in August.
ITV shares were down 0.9 per cent to 109-1/4 pence this morning.