INM bid rejected by APN shareholders

An APN shareholder vote has rejected Tony O’Reilly’s private equity bid for the company after a minority of shareholders opposed the Scheme of Arrangement. APN owns the Australian Radio Network.

O’Reilly’s Independent News and Media says it is disappointed by the decision to reject its bid. The company will remain listed on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges.

The bid, which involved a Scheme of Arrangement offering $6.20 per share from a consortium comprising Independent News & Media, the Carlyle Group and Providence, required the approval of 75% of eligible shares that were voted and at least 50 per cent of eligible shareholders who voted.

At the close of voting, 109.2 million shares or 51% of all votes were in favour of the resolution with 104.9m shares voting against the resolution.

More than 5,000 shareholders voted, unprecedented in the history of APN, with over 79% per cent of the eligible shareholders being in favour of the Scheme.

Despite this overwhelming majority, the total number of eligible shares voted in favour of the Scheme was below the 75% majority required for the Scheme to proceed.
Therefore, APN News & Media will remain a listed company.

APN Chairman James Parkinson thanked shareholders for their participation in the vote:

“From the outset, the Independent Committee’s objective was to ensure that all shareholders had an opportunity to consider the Offer and to have the right to vote accordingly. Now that the vote is over, the Board expects to make an announcement on Monday on the declaration and prompt payment of a final dividend for 2006.”

CEO Brendan Hopkins says: “APN remains one of Australasia’s largest listed media companies and as far as the Company is concerned, it’s business as usual.”

INM group chief operating officer Gavin O’Reilly told reporters at the meeting INM had no plans to sell down its majority stake in APN despite losing the vote.