Street Talk

Southern Cross’ poison pill that bidders just can’t swallow

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Updated Dec 17, 2024 – 11.11am, first published at Dec 4, 2024 – 6.16pm

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More than a year after private equity put Southern Cross Austereo in play, the media company is not even an inch closer to catching a whole-of-the company bid. Now, the attention is turning to an eight-year-old contract that appears to have morphed into a so-called poison pill.

Southern Cross Austereo CEO John Kelly. SCA

correction —

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said various contract clauses applied to the sale of the whole Southern Cross Media business. They apply to the sale of its radio assets.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.