Gordon to take war to Adelaide

BRUCE Gordon's WIN Corporation is set to take its bidding war with PBL Media to round three in Adelaide, after it yesterday lobbed what it hopes is a knockout bid in excess of $200 million for the NBN Television network, which is also coveted by the Nine network.

BRUCE Gordon's WIN Corporation is set to take its bidding war with PBL Media to round three in Adelaide, after it yesterday lobbed what it hopes is a knockout bid in excess of $200 million for the NBN Television network, which is also coveted by the Nine network.

Speculation is emerging that WIN will quickly move to take control of Channel 9 in Adelaide, currently owned by Southern Cross Broadcasting, as part of plans by Mr Gordon to launch a "super-regional player". PBL Media is also known to covet Channel 9 Adelaide for its national television network.

The Bermuda-based media billionaire recently told The Australian he was looking to "fill in the gaps" in his television empire, which covers most of regional Australia but few metropolitan areas. He has already launched the highest bid for Channel 9 in Perth.

News of WIN's NBN offer yesterday came on a dramatic day of action surrounding the regional network. Its owner, SP Telemedia, flushed out all interested bidders for NBN by announcing an effective silent-auction process that expired at the close of business yesterday.

WIN's bid may be an attempt to swamp a rival offer from PBL Media, which has also examined NBN's books. "They're trying to blow PBL out of the water," an analyst said.

SP Telemedia confirmed in a statement to the ASX that it had received a "binding offer" from WIN for its media assets, including NBN's outside broadcasting operations.

The offer considered by SP Telemedia's directors to be the best will be "accepted promptly", SP said.

Yesterday's statement gave no specifics of WIN's bid amount, but informed sources said the figure was more than $200 million.

This figure would be well above the $145 million valuation placed on NBN when it was vended into SP Telemedia in 2004.

However, the SP Telemedia statement also noted WIN had "reserved the right to vary the terms of its offer or to withdraw it at any time prior to it being validly accepted by Soul".

Gordon, WIN's billionaire owner, told The Australian in a recent interview that NBN was "of a lot of interest to us".

It is believed both WIN and PBL Media - a joint venture between James Packer's PBL and private equity group CVC Asia-Pacific - made firm bids by yesterday's deadline.

A PBL spokeswoman issued a firm "no comment" last night.

The possibility of a third bidder for NBN has not been ruled out. Macquarie Bank is understood to have expressed preliminary interest in NBN, Nine's affiliate in central and northern NSW.