Sanoma has sold the Dutch SBS television channels to media magnate John de Mol for €237m, the Finnish media giant said on Monday.

The deal gives De Mol’s investment company Talpa full ownership of SBS6, Veronica, Net5 and SBS9. Talpa and Sanoma bought SBS in 2011 for over €1bn, with Talpa taking a minority, 33% stake.

De Mol, who has made a fortune from reality television formats such as Big Brother, said the deal represented an important step ‘towards creating a new multi-media company’. Talpa already owns radio stations Radio 538, Veronica and Sky Radio.

De Mol is also still embroiled in a takeover battle for the Telegraaf Media Groep, although he seems almost certain to lose out to Belgium’s Mediahuis.

In the Netherlands, Sanoma still owns news website Nu.nl, plus Donald Duck magazine and the popular women’s magazine Libelle among others. It sold a large number of magazines in 2013 in a major reorganisation.

The deal still needs approval from regulators but the two companies expect to finalise details in the third quarter of this year.