Bell to ring up $10m from Southern Cross

AMID yesterday's hoopla about the latest major Australian media merger, the forgotten man was Southern Cross Broadcasting chief executive Tony Bell, who looks set to quietly pocket more than $10 million just from the takeover of the group.

AMID yesterday's hoopla about the latest major Australian media merger, the forgotten man was Southern Cross Broadcasting chief executive Tony Bell, who looks set to quietly pocket more than $10 million just from the takeover of the group.

It is also understood Mr Bell could make millions more from the superannuation entitlements he has clocked up during his 13 years at the Southern Cross helm, given his base salary of about $1.1 million a year.

Mr Bell has built the company from an enterprise value of about $70 million when he joined in 1993 - when Southern Cross was a sleepy, small media company - to its current enterprise value of around $1.35 billion.

The Southern Cross CEO was giving little away when contacted yesterday about how much he stands to make, or his future role once Southern Cross is broken up. He would only tell The Australian: "I have a confidential arrangement with Macquarie.

"But I will be providing my services for a smooth transition in the interests of our shareholders, our potential acquirers and our staff."

Word coming out of the deal involving Macquarie Media Group and Fairfax carving up Southern Cross suggests Mr Bell was the toughest of negotiators on behalf of his company's shareholders.

One of the main beneficiaries of his tough negotiating style was Mr Bell himself.

Public documents have shown that he directly owns about 100,000 Southern Cross shares.

Given the final $17.41 offer price, plus a 37c fully franked final dividend, Mr Bell will reap upwards of $1.8 million from the sale of his shares.

But that is far from the bulk of what he stands to gain from the deal. It is understood Mr Bell will make a net gain of between $5.5 million and $6 million from the sale of his executive options in the takeover bid.

The good news for him does not end there. Company documentation at Southern Cross indicates that Mr Bell is also entitled to 18 months' pay at full salary in the event of the company's takeover.

This means that even before the "confidential arrangement" with Macquarie is taken into account, Mr Bell stands to realise up to $9.6 million, just from transactions related to the disappearance of Southern Cross from the Australian Securities Exchange later this year.

Mr Bell was once asked by The Australian if he would finish his professional life at Southern Cross. He replied: "I'm too young to even think about that, but there's enough flexibility in my contract that I could still do what I want."

With plenty of money to enter the Bell family coffers, there is plenty of scope for 54-year-old Mr Bell to do "what he wants" from here on.