SCA knocks back ARN takeover proposal: ‘Not in the best interest of shareholders’
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has rejected radio rival ARN’s takeover proposal, officially knocking back the offer on Thursday morning.
On October 18, ARN formed a consortium with Anchorage Capital Partners and lobbed a takeover bid, in which the two company’s assets would be jumbled and restructured, with shareholders of both companies holding stock in a new venture called ARN Newco.
The deal was a certainty to close before Christmas, ARN promised, but the new year started with radio silence.
In an ASX statement issued on Thursday morning, SCA announced it would not be accepting ARN’s proposal.
Good recommendation. A merger has benefits .But for SXL shareholders the offer of 0.753 ARN shares is an affront. A merger would gain 40-55% share of industry metro revenues and say 30-40% EBITDA margins -all within the historic parameters of the Austereo Ltd (ASX) public performance (33% EBITDA margins FY09) .
Roger are you using EBITA performance from 15 years ago to argue against a deal in 2024? Also the offer was .753 ARN shares plus 30c.
This would’ve been a shocking deal, extraordinary separation costs, loss of people, all to create a version of a company that fundamentally already exists (it’s called SCA). An absolute stinker, luckily sanity prevails for now.
Sounds like a very successful due diligence process prevailing here..