News Corp homes in on $2bn Australia pay-TV deal
September 7, 2012
Consolidated Media Holdings has agreed to back a revised A$2 billion takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, in a deal that would give News Corp a greater share of Australia’s pay-TV market.
A successful takeover would see James Packer, who holds a 50.1 per cent stake in Consolidated Media, exit his last big media venture as he focuses on casinos.
The deal will double the stake of News Corp’s Australian unit in the dominant pay-TV operator Foxtel to 50 percent and give it 100 per cent of content provider Fox Sports, boosting its pay-TV exposure at the same time as it cuts back print operations.
Consolidated Media (CMH) said its board backed the offer, in the absence of a higher bid.
The binding proposal from News Corp represented a premium of 15 percent to the average share price over the past three months.