ARN, Anchorage to table ACMA solution with Southern Cross bid

afr.com:

ASX-listed ARN Media and buyout fund Anchorage Capital Partners are cutting no corners in their tilt for rival radio station owner Southern Cross Media.

ARN and Southern Cross Media are both ASX listed. Rob Homer

Street Talk understands the duo have baked a pre-pack Australian Communications and Media Authority solution into their control bid, which is expected to launch this morning as revealed by this column.

Southern Cross Media’s largest shareholder is Allan Gray at 16.4 per cent, followed by ARN at 14.8 per cent, Ubique Asset Management with 9.75 per cent, REST with 5.66 per cent and Dimensional Fund Advisors at 5 per cent. That’s 51.65 per cent of the register with just five shareholders.

The bidder, ARN, is slightly bigger with a $261 million market capitalisation. However, its shares too are down 47 per cent this year amid a wider pullback in listed media names. It had $22.6 million cash and $75 million in bank loans at June 30.

The transaction was overseen by Jefferies Australia head Michael Stock, ARN’s Hamish McLennan and Ciaran Davis, and Anchorage dealmaker Beau Dixon.