This all sounds similar when RG Capital and the old DMG merged
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And in Townsville, the two RG Capital stations still haven’t really improved in survey.
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Part from the Seven aligned stations… the remaining TV stations are worthless.
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Spanner in the works courtesy of Keybridge Capital on the basis that ARN contravened the takeover laws by allowing SCA’s biggest shareholder (Allan Gray Australia) to have its shareholding in ARN increase above the 20% mark.
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What does this mean for the deal?
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Short answer: It would jeopardise the deal
Long answer: If ARN’s found to be in breach by the federal government’s Takeover Panel, then Keybridge Capital wants the relevant portion of shares confiscated and released to the market. Keybridge also wants ARN to be prohibited from buying any new Southern Cross shares for six months.
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What’s interesting is this:
- SCA’s board has made it clear it’s not particularly keen on the ARN takeover and has been sniffing around for a better option for its shareholders to vote on.
- 2 days ago there was speculation that media entrepreneur Antony Catalano was going to interupt the deal because he wanted to buy SCA through his company Australian Community Media.
- The company that lodged today’s objection to ARN’s purchase of the SCA shares is Keybridge Capital.
- Antony Catalano is on the board of Keybridge Capital.
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So this, in itself, is dodgy.
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This has a real vibe that someone’s been unable to secure SCA shares in large enough quantities to get a seat at the table and that they’ve been sitting on this ‘breach’ info for a little while. I recall Keybridge has a pretty good understanding of how the Takeovers Panel works too having been involved in some long-running investigations
Ahh, so the Prime Media Group approach - I expect to see “save regional media” articles in ACM papers in short time then.
ACM may have to firesale some licences if they were to buy SCA - they’ll run into issues with media diversity rules
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Pretty normal business practice.
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No real surprise here - just because one network has and another has toyed with the idea doesnt mean that it stacks up financially.
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The only radio markets that come to my mind are Wagga Wagga, Bendigo*, Launceston & Burnie. In Wagga Wagga & Bendigo, ACM/SCA would have to sell either their two radio stations or a daily newspaper, whilst in Launceston & Burnie, they would have to sell a daily newspaper.
*: Even though Bendigo does have a 3rd commercial station, it actually covers a separate licence area (Maryborough (VIC) RA1), and doesn’t count towards the number of voices under Bendigo RA1. When Catalano increased his stake on Prime Media in 2021 (prior to its acquisition by Seven), ACMA stated that if the transaction had proceeded without ACMA approval, it would have resulted in breaches of the media diversity laws.
More: https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-04/Rural-Press-Undertaking-under-61AS.pdf
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Good old Catalano, he certainly knows how to keep things interesting (and how to put his hand out for taxpayer money when there’s any opportunity).
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A Radioinfo article by Jen Seyderhelm on what has been discussed above, plus a big announcement for the two Canberra FM stations at 8am tomorrow (as mentioned on the “Canberra Radio” thread).
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SCA have told shareholders at their AGM today they’ve got nothing to tell them about the ARN/Anchorage proposal, it’s still “early stage”
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“Mr Catalano could not be reached because he was on a boat.”
Love it
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This is how I see it playing out within 5 years.
ACP will sell Brisbane / Adelaide / Perth to Nova and they will have a SmoothFM is all 5 metros. Nova will sell 5AA to Nine Radio so they can complete their 5 metro footprint. ACP will sell 2Day/WS & Fox/Gold to Virgin or CBS.
Fun times ahead if ARN can pull this off. Of course there might be a clause with ARN/ACP not to sell any assets to Nova.
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