‘The article contains several factual inaccuracies’: SCA slams AFR for misleading article
In an announcement made to the ASX on Thursday morning, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has slammed the Australian Financial Review for an article published overnight that “contains several factual inaccuracies”.
The article, published on Wednesday evening, described SCA’s eight-year-old contract with the Australian Traffic Network (ATN) as a “so-called poison pill” that “contains a slew of clauses that are proving to be unpalatable to suitors”.
The article delves into the clauses, including a change of control payment and disclosure failures, as well as other “headaches” that are preventing any bidders.
SCA has hit back.
“SCA has at all times complied with its disclosure obligations in relation to its contract with ATN including on entry into the contract on 9 February 2016 and in interim and full-year reporting since that date,” the ASX announcement reads.
“Given the long-term nature of the contract and the significant up-front payment, the contract deals with the circumstances in which SCA wished to terminate or amend or no longer fulfil its obligations, which would be the case if SCA were to sell its radio stations.”
SCA also noted that the contract would not be affected by any change in control of SCA including a takeover bid or arrangement involving a 100% acquisition, and said the AFR article is “materially incorrect and misleading in this respect”.
It also said the ATN contract is not relevant to SCA’s current negotiations regarding the sale of its television assets: “SCA will continue to update the market about those negotiations in accordance with its disclosure obligations.”
While complying with disclosure obligations, SCA said it also respects the confidentiality of the commercial terms of the ATN contract. With ATN’s consent, SCA confidentially disclosed those commercial terms to the consortium of ARN Media and Anchorage Capital Partners earlier this year, amid the potential takeover bid.
“SCA expects the Consortium parties and their advisers to comply with their respective confidentiality obligations”.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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