John de Mol, the creator of Big Brother and co-founder of Dutch TV giant Endemol, is set to increase his stake in Television Corporation, the independent producer behind Question Time and Channel 4's cricket coverage.
The Dutch billionaire will step down in May as chief creative officer at the TV giant that also spawned Europe-wide TV formats such as Fame Academy, ending his long association with the company he founded in 1994 and leaving him free to pursue other opportunities.
On Friday Mr de Mol raised his shareholding in TV Corp to just over 3% and he is set to increase it further by buying into the £6m share offering announced by the company last week, which is understood to be at least two times oversubscribed.
The chief executive, Jeff Foulser, said TV Corp had not spoken to Mr de Mol about his intentions but that he viewed it as a positive move.
"We're a much more appealing business now. The fact that John de Mol has bought in is, I think, an encouraging sign. But quite what his intentions are we don't know," he said.
TV Corp has endured a turbulent couple of years of restructuring, during which several senior executives have left the company and underperforming business units closed.
But following the restructuring some analysts believe the shares look good value, with further consolidation expected in the independent production sector in the wake of the new Communications Act, which guarantees them more work from broadcasters.
Mr Foulser said TV Corp, which owns Robot Wars producer Mentorn and sports production outfit Sunset+Vine, was "not quite there" but was "in much better shape than it has ever been".
He was promoted to chief executive in 2001 following the departure of Chris Rowlands, the former HTV chief. Last year Tom Gutteridge, the Robot Wars creator who sold Mentorn to TV Corp in 2000, also left after his earnout clause matured. Mr Foulser said any future purchases were likely to be made on a similar all-share basis.
Mr Foulser said the company, which is looking for a new chairman to replace the current temporary incumbent and contender for the BBC chair, Michael Grade, would be on the lookout for acquisitions as it continued to focus on being purely a content and production company.
He said by raising £6m through the share placing, the company could restructure its balance sheet after last week writing off a £4.3m loss on the sale of its post-production business, Molinare, and a further £1.7m on the closure of its ill-fated move into offshore powerboat racing.
Sunset+Vine, which produces the BBC's horseracing coverage and Channel 4's cricket, was also in good shape, added the division's managing director, John Leach.
"There's a good feeling that sports production is going up. The key was winning the C4 cricket tender and we're now well respected for the innovation we brought to that sport," he said.
Mr de Mol has intrigued market watchers since he picked up almost half of the £3.5bn that Spanish telecom giant Telefonica paid for Endemol in 2000.
John de Mol Productions was founded in 1979, and by 1990 its Love Letters show turned the company into an international player. Endemol was created in 1994 by the merger of Mr de Mol's outfit and Joop van den Ende Productions.
Since the sale he has amassed stakes in both British music group EMI and Manchester United, before creating more headlines by selling the majority of his interest in the football club to John Magnier and JP McManus and Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer.
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