The Nine Entertainment Group has finally made John Singleton an offer for his holding of Macquarie Media Shares.
The share offer of $1.46 per share values Macquarie Media at $275.4 million and is inclusive of the $22 million debt as of June 30th and the August 2019 dividend.
Nine has told shareholders that the $113.9 million acquisition of the remaining 45.5 per cent of shares will come from cash reserves and existing debt facilities and that conditions of the offer include that at the end of the offer period Nine holds a minimum of 90% of MRN shares on offer at that time.
This would likely be made up of Nine 54.5%, John Singleton 32.4% and Mark Carnegie 3.6%.
Macquarie Media owns stations 2GB, 3AW, 4BC, 6PR and Macquarie Sports Radio, and Nine’s CEO, Hugh Marks, says:
“The acquisition of Macquarie Media consolidates Nine’s position as a supplier of News and Current Affairs content across all of our key platforms – Television, Digital, Print and now Radio. Together, we are investing more than $400 million per year providing premium News and editorial content, entrenching Nine as the ‘go to place’ for all news needs, for all Australians. In additions to cost initiative already underway at MRN, bringing the two businesses together will realise further annualised synergies of more than $10 million.”
Back in March this year Singo’s 32.4% stake in Macquarie Media was worth just under $100 million on the then current share price, and he told The Australian that he is not good at being a minority shareholder and “would rather have things myself.”
