Endemol shareholders

Leon Black's Apollo Global Management LLC is to become one of the top shareholders in Endemol, the TV production house behind "Big Brother" and "Deal or No Deal," after it and a Dutch investment firm bought most of the debt from its lenders.

Black's private equity firm, which he likes to describe as a contrarian investor, and Cyrte Investments BV, an investment boutique based in Naarden in the Netherlands, will convert debt into equity in Endemol, collectively giving them majority ownership, a Cyrte spokesman said on Friday.