Bruce Gordon buys in, lifting Nine shares

Nine shares jump after its biggest shareholder, billionaire Bruce Gordon, did some buying.

Major Nine shareholder Bruce Gordon.

Nine shares have jumped 5 per cent after the media group’s biggest shareholder, billionaire businessman Bruce Gordon, secured more shares, taking his stake to 13.36 per cent.

Mr Gordon’s WIN Group has increased its stake to 8.88 per cent from 7.76 per cent, due to an existing swap agreement with Deutsche Bank, which effectively means the investment bank is holding shares in the company on his behalf, according to a filing with the ASX on Wednesday after the market’s close.

He owns a further a 4.48 per cent under the arrangement.

Mr Gordon had owned about 15 per cent of Nine before its $4.2 billion merger with Fairfax Media, but his shareholding was diluted because of the deal, which was completed on December 7.

Under the merger deal, Fairfax shareholders received a mix of cash and scrip, including 0.3627 Nine shares and 2.5 cents for each Fairfax share held. This implied a 22 per cent premium to Fairfax’s share price of 77c the day before the deal was announced.

Mr Gordon also owns a near 15 per cent stake in regional television broadcaster Prime Media via his private company Birketu.

Nine shares were up 5 per cent to $1.46 in early morning trade on Thursday.