Fairfax takeover consortium raises bid to $2.7bn, driving share price to six year high
The venture capital-led consortium attempting to buy Fairfax Media has raised its bid for the company to more than $2.7bn.
And TPG Capital’s consortium is now offering to buy the whole company, rather then cherrypicking key assets, an update to the ASX has revealed.
The new bid came in over the weekend after it emerged that the board of Fairfax Media was set to reject the opening offer.
Fairfax publishes the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review, plus a range of regional and NZ newspapers. It also owns stakes in streaming service Stan and talk radio company Macquarie Media. The most valuable part of the company is real estate offering Domain.
The original offer from TPG was priced at 95c per share, but would not have included all of the company’s assets.
The new bid offers $1.20 to $1.25 per share, valuing the company at $2.76bn. As a result of the bid, shares in the company rose by nearly 7% today to $1.14 – their highest point in more than six years.
In an update to the ASX, Fairfax said: “there is no certainty that the Revised Indicative Proposal will result in an offer to Fairfax, what the terms of any offer would be, or whether there will be a recommendation by the Fairfax board.”
The Fairfax update also alluded to its own plan to float Domain seperately as a way of unlockign value for shareholders.
It said: “Regardless of whether the Revised Indicative Proposal proceeds to an offer to Fairfax, the Fairfax Board believes that Fairfax has an announced strategy for the future that will deliver value for shareholders.”
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Wow may the venture capitalists divide the carcass and leave the bones to slowly be picked clean. Seriously many annons called it earlier in the piece that the Scotch Fillet Domain will be sold off for a profit and the remained sold as Sauage filler…
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