Seven West Media’s Prime bid fades after Gordon, Catalano rejection
Hartigan rues Catalano and Gordon rejection that forced Seven’s Prime bid to falter.
Prime Media chairman John Hartigan has expressed disappointment that interest associated with major shareholders Antony Catalano and Bruce Gordon had rejected Seven West nmedia’s $64 million takeover offer.
As was widely expected, Seven West’s offer appeared to have failed based on proxy votes, following staunch protests from the regional television broadcaster’s Mr Gordon and Mr Catalano.
Numbers released by Prime at the shareholder scheme meeting in Sydney on Thursday showed 53.12 per cent of proxies voted against the offer, which needed 75 per cent Prime shareholder approval to get over the line. About 45.9 per cent of proxies voted in favour of the tie-up.
The final voting results would be issued with the ASX later Thursday, Mr Hartigan told shareholders.
The proxy vote result was flagged 24 hours earlier, with Prime conceding its takeover by Seven wouldn’t succeed after WIN Corporation chairman Mr Gordon and Mr Catalano, who owns regional newspapers, voiced opposition to the deal.
Mr Gordon has voting power of 11.59 per cent in Prime, while Mr Catalano has built up a 14.57 per cent stake, giving them a combined 26.16 per cent stake with which to block Seven’s bid.
Despite the bleak early votes, Prime still held its shareholder meeting in Sydney to avoid paying a $600,000 break fee to Seven, which is controlled by media mogul Kerry Stokes.
‘Disappointing outcome’
Mr Hartigan told shareholders at the meeting that it was a “disappointing outcome for the majority of Prime shareholders and for the regional television industry in general.
“The majority of shareholder feedback since the announcement of the special dividend (of 3 cents a share) has been positive and indeed supportive of the proposed merger with Seven.
“Had interests associated with Mr Gordon and Mr Catalano not voted, then based on proxies received to date the scheme would have been approved by shareholders,” said Mr Hartigan, who stepped down at the end of the meeting, in a move foreshadowed by The Australian on Wednesday.
Mr Hartigan said Prime’s board would now review its priorities in the New Year.
Following Prime’s concession on Wednesday, Seven chief executive James Warburton said the company was “disappointed with the likely outcome of the vote”.
“The merger with Prime was a logical and good outcome for both sets of shareholders. Our great relationship with Prime will continue under our affiliation agreement and we look forward to delivering outstanding content for them in 2020,” he said.
The early votes on Wednesday coincided with Australia’s competition regulator decision to allow Seven to buy Prime on the provision it sells its Spirit and RedFM radio networks in regional Western Australia.
BBC apologises to staff over Russell Brand sex complaints
Some employees had stayed silent about the behaviour of the comedian and actor because they believed he ‘would always get his way’, a BBC director said.
Questions about ABC platforming ‘radical fringe Jewish voice’
Jewish groups have questioned why the national broadcaster has chosen to platform and ‘mainstream’ a Jewish ‘radical fringe voice’, in its coverage of anti-Semitic events in Sydney.