The Australian media landscape has seen three big to blockbuster deals in a month, after passing of new laws by the government which relaxed long-held cross-media ownership and foreign ownership restrictions: first News Corp. bumped up its Australian activity with the acquisition of a 7.5 percent stake in John Fairfax Holdings Ltd., the country’s second-largest newspaper publisher. Then media group Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) is in the process of forming a new media company called PBL Media, in a 50/50 joint venture with UK-based private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific, worth $3.42 billion.
Now this: Seven Network, the Australian TV and online media company, will form a joint venture with buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. to pursue media transactions...the deal, worth $3.1 billion (AUS$4 billion), results in formation of Seven Media Group, which will pursue opportunities both in Australia and New Zealand and include Seven’s TV, magazines and online businesses, such as its 50 percent interest in the Yahoo!7 joint venture.
Chairman Kerry Stokes, who holds a 47 percent interest in Seven, said KKR shares his vision of building Seven’s competitive and financial performance while expanding the online business. KKR will invest approximately $ AUS 735 million for a 50 percent stake in the new group while Seven will receive around AUS$3.5 billion in cash.
Some more granular details in this Australian Age story.