Stand by for a bailout of the Australian media sector.
A decision on whether a recapitalisation will happen at oOh!media is due to be known today after the company trading in the company’s shares was halted on March 20.
There is market talk foreign private equity groups could be interested if the price is low enough. The decision could be postponed like one due yesterday for Flight Centre, the embattled travel giant.
Pressure on the weakened legacy media sector grew yesterday when the shares of national radio and regional TV group, Southern Cross Media collapsed.
The share price hit 16.5 cents yesterday, down 32.6% and the lowest it has ever been.
Southern Cross Austereo operations metropolitan radio stations like TripleM and Hit Network, and regional television network re-broadcasting Nine into country areas. Its market cap has fallen from $727 million in mid-January down to $132.6 million today.
Fellow media companies are also struggling with Nine Entertainment losing 12.5% to 84 cents, a record low (the hit an intraday low of 81.5 cents) for the merged company. Nine is still worth $1.64 billion, but that is half what it and Fairfax Media were worth as a combined company when it announced its takeover offer for Fairfax in mid-July, 2018.
For Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media it was more of the same – shares down again, closing at a new low of 6.6%, the all-time low.
At this price, it is worth just over $123 million.
News Corp shares fell another 6.5% on Friday in the US to $8.71. The $US8.55 low for the day was the all-time low for the company since the split in the Murdoch empire in June 2013.
oOH!Media yesterday was told that San Francisco-based HMI Capital Partners, had lifted its holding to 18.6% in last week’s sell-off. That means it is in the box seat to determine if the company can be reacapitalised.
