Veteran investment banker Mark Carnegie has spoken with ABC’s Dominique Schwartz about the hype surrounding an expected wave of consolidation following the government’s media reforms, and Carnegie’s recent bid along with advertising guru John Singleton for a full takeover of Macquarie Media.

In June, the pair teamed up to buy Fairfax Media’s 54% stake in the belief it was looking to offload Macquarie, however Fairfax said it was not seeking offers. 

‘It’s a sideshow, the radio station, it doesn’t fit naturally into the political outlook of the Fairfax papers,’ said Carnegie. ‘We were happy to become a minority investor to Fairfax, we’re happy about how the asset is performing and how much cash it’s generating, but it’s one of those cases where we think more could be done.’

When asked if he and Singleton were still interested in a takeover, Carnegie said ‘We’re still interested in the asset. Vitally interested. We have 40% of the business.’

Schwartz asked why, given the advances being made into digital media, there was such interest in Macquarie.

‘The point that Singo made earlier is that news talk radio was the world’s first social media, vibrant, connected, opinionated. Radio advertising around the world has been remarkably robust. You put ads on radio and they still work. And vast amounts of TV and print has been cannibalised by digital, but it’s not the case for radio.’

‘Digital hasn’t killed the radio star?’

‘Anything but’, laughs Carnegie.