L.A. mogul Sloan sets up $69 million IPO for his Scandinavian Broadcasting System.

Los Angeles entertainment mogul Harry E. Sloan, chairman of Scandinavian Broadcasting System SA, is expected to take his international company public this week with a $69 million stock offering.

Investment bankers from Prudential Securities Inc. in L.A. and local attorneys with L.A.-based Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and L.A.-based O'Melveny & Myers are working with the company, which has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 4 million shares at an estimated $15 per share. In addition, 600,000 shares have been earmarked for underwriters. Sources close to the deal said the initial public offering is expected to be sold this week.

Sloan, chairman of Luxembourg-based Scandinavian Broadcasting, began operations in 1990 to bring commercial television, including such shows as "Star Trek," "Murphy Brown," "Beverly Hills 90210" and "The Cosby Show" to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. SBS is one of only two commercial stations serving that region.

Sloan, 42, is no stranger to the L.A. entertainment industry. Prior to joining SBS as chairman and chief executive officer, Sloan was co-chairman of New World Entertainment, a local motion picture studio and supplier of prime time network programming.

During his six-year tenure at New World, the company completed an IPO and acquired Marvel Entertainment Group, the largest comic book publisher in the U.S.

"The SBS deal is interesting because it is a U.S. equity offering for a company with operations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway," said Michael Burns, a managing director with Prudential Securities in Los Angeles. "The company is on the forefront of deregulation of the Scandinavian broadcasting industry."

Scandinavia was the last area in Western Europe to allow commercial television. Indeed, prior to late 1987, Scandinavian television was still government-owned.

Compared to other commercial television markets in Europe, Scandinavians watch less hours of television, an average of 2.3 hours per day compared to 3.4 hours per day for the rest of Europe and 4.3 hours for the United States.

According to the IPO prospectus, company officials believe the low number of television viewing hours for Scandinavia is the result of a lack of program diversity.

The majority of Scandinavian IPO proceeds will pay off outstanding debt, incurred from the acquisition of three television stations: TV Norge, TV5 Nordic, and Kanal 2. The rest will fund operational needs. The company has had operating and net losses for the past three years.

SBS plans to improve each station's operating results by increasing broadcast hours, improving programming, expanding broadcast coverage and possibly moving into Finland. The company currently reaches more than 40 percent of the television households in Norway and Sweden and more than 55 percent of the households in Denmark.

"It has been an exciting process pulling people together from all over the world," said Robert K. Montgomery, attorney with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. "The company is really emerging from ground zero."

After the offering, SBS directors and officers will own an estimated 17.2 percent of the company. Other major shareholders include venture capital group Advent International, and Roscomare Ltd., owned by Sloan, which will have a 10 percent stake in SBS.

Joseph Ryan, a lawyer with O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, said it was a "fascinating" deal.

"It has a lot of very interesting aspects," said Ryan. "Here you have a foreign issuer trying to do something in Scandinavia which is old hat in the U.S."