That’s that then.
Or is it?
The Australian Government Takeovers Panel has made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances around ARN and Anchorage Capital Partner’s (ACP) June acquisition of 14.8% of SCA shares.
Allan Gray Australia Pty Ltd at the time had voting power in both SCA and ARN, and with the acquisition, this power increased to 31.24%, which is in contravention of s606.
Allan Gray and ARN have submitted that the contravention was inadvertent, but the panel has still deemed the circumstances unacceptable and did not consider it against the public interest to make this declaration.
Submission related to these orders are due next Wednesday November 29 at 5pm (Melbourne time), but this currently reads that ARN and ACP cannot proceed any further with their takeover ambitions.
This is more concentration in the media. In WA all country commercial stations are owned by SCA with the exception of Mandurah Broadcasters and SEN
In regional Eastern States SCA owns the 10 TV franchise along with radio stations.
Concentration minimises local (ie to the licence area) content to that required by law and a lack of diversity of views and employment opportunities.