Southern Cross Media Group Limited has entered into an agreement with Eon Broadcasting Pty Ltd (Eon), 90% of which is held by Oceania Capital Partners Limited, to acquire all of the shares in its subsidiary Sunshine Coast Broadcasters Pty Ltd for a purchase price of $17.75 million.
The Wheatley Organisation Pty Ltd holds the remaining 10% of Eon.
The EON name is steeped in radio history. It is the name Glenn Wheatley chose for the original FM station he set up in Melbourne in 1980, which was eventually bought by Rod Muir who rebranded it as Triple M.
A source close to the deal said Glenn Wheatley is likely to be spending time at the station, but that the jobs of current staff, including manager John Williams are not under threat. Oceania Capital had been negotiating with SCA from the moment the sale was mooted, but negotiations stalled while SCA challenged the decision in court. The current round of negotiations that led to today’s successful sale began around Christmas last year.
Despite court challenges to the ownership rules, SCA was forced to sell Sunshine Coast Broadcasters Pty Ltd, the holder of two commercial FM radio licences Sea FM and Mix FM, as a consequence of SCA holding more than the permitted number of commercial FM radio licences in the Brisbane and Nambour licence areas, after its acquisition of Austereo Group Limited in 2011.
CEO Rhys Holleran, who has had a close association with these stations for many years, said:
“It is a sad day for many of us who have been personally involved with this business for more than 15 years. It is a credit to our management team that it has an unrivalled reputation in the local community.
“Whilst this station will move to new ownership, the new owners are very capable of continuing the strong management of the station moving forward. It is our intention to continue to work with the new owners during a transition period to ensure the business’s ongoing success.
“We sincerely thank all the staff at the Sunshine Coast radio station for their contribution to our group.”
The stations will continue to take some program from Southern Cross Austereo and SCA will represent the stations at a national sales level.
The two stations serve one of the fastest growing population areas in Australia. They are long standing market leaders in the region and OCP says they will be “an excellent initial investment” into the Australian regional radio industry, signalling the company’s intention to expand if possible.
OCP Managing Director Robert Moran said: “We are very much looking forward to working with the Sea FM and Mix FM teams to build on their exceptional strength in regional radio across Queensland. For Oceania Capital Partners, this is an attractive opportunity to pursue growth prospects through market expansion and to ensure both stations remain an integral part of the local Queensland community.”
Glenn Wheatley will consult to Eon Broadcasting, and says he is “very proud to be a part of two of the best regional FM stations in the country, Sea FM and Mix FM on the Sunshine Coast.” He met staff at the two stations today when the deal was announced.
Austereo shares, which have been rising over the past week, fell today on news of the sale, closing at $1.65.
Trace the history of the sale process in our previous articles.