Nine Entertainment’s offer for the remaining shares in Macquarie Media has been deemed “fair and reasonable” to shareholders by independent expert PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A Macquarie Media company statement to the ASX says:
The Independent Directors of MRN unanimously recommend that, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to the independent expert continuing to opine that the Offer is reasonable, you ACCEPT the Offer to purchase all of your MRN Shares for $1.46 cash per MRN Share.
The Independent Expert has concluded that the Offer is fair and reasonable to MRN Shareholders.
A report released to the ASX last week valued Macquarie shares at between $1.44 and $1.66, putting Nine’s $1.46 a share cash offer at the lower end of the range.
Nine’s offer for all of the ordinary shares in Macquarie Media Limited (MRN) has been sent to each person who held securities in the bid class as at 7.00pm (AEST) on 2 September 2019 (being the date set by Nine Bidder pursuant to section 633(2) of the Act), as required by item 6 of section 633(1) of the Act.
MRN’s board, led by Chairman Russell Tate, has been getting its house in order by toughening up on star breakfast presenter Alan Jones and also putting a number of other behind the scenes measures in place before the sale. Issues such as defamation insurance will loom large for the new 100% owner when majority private shareholders John Singleton and Mark Carnegie sell, trailing along with them the remaining small shareholders, including Tate, Jones and the station’s other stars, past employees and small investors.
radioinfo understands that insurance is one of the station’s biggest issues, with underwriters very reluctant to insure Jones and Hadley, who are now considered uninsurable for defamation.
The sale should be completed on 14 October.
Meanwhile, the text of Alan Jones’ letter to NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has come to light in The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the letter under New Zealand’s freedom of information laws.
Jones writes to assure the NZ PM he “did not intend to suggest any violence towards you… While I may disagree with your stance on climate change, I would never wish any harm to you…
“Please accept my sincere apology for the words spoken, and I hope that my intentions are, at least now, clear.”
The letter, released by The Guardian, is below.
