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The board of one of Australia's largest radio companies is in favour of selling off almost half its shares to Nine Entertainment (ASX: NEC) at a 16 per cent discount to the previous share price.
This morning Nine offered to buy the remaining 45.5 per cent stake it doesn't own in Macquarie Media (ASX: MRN) - broadcaster of such stations as 2GB, 3AW and 4BC - at $1.46 per share in cash, representing a purchase price of $113.9 million.
It's a price that is more or less in line with where shares were trading before a rise that followed the re-signing of shock jock Alan Jones in late May.
The offer from Nine subsidiary Fairfax follows a poor result reported by Macquarie last week with a 33 per cent drop in underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) to $14.4 million for FY19.
The ABC reported John Singleton, who holds 32.4 per cent of Macquarie, as well as investment banker Mark Carnegie who holds 3.6 per cent, have agreed to the sale.
Nine CEO Hugh Marks says the acquisition of Macquarie Media consolidates the company's position as a supplier of news and current affairs content across all its key platforms - television, digital, print and now radio.
"Together, we are investing more than $400m per year providing premium news and editorial content, entrenching Nine as the go to place for all news needs, for all Australians," says Marks.
"In addition to cost efficiency initiatives already underway at MRN, bringing the two businesses together will realise further annualised synergies of more than $10 million."
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