Lord Rothermere is considering a £ 810million deal to make the Daily Mail news group private.
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) owns the Mail on Sunday, Subway and I newspapers, as well as several other data and media companies. DMGT has been a listed company since 1932.
DMGT said in a statement it was “willing” to accept the offer. Lord Rothermere, whose family founded the Daily mail, currently owns 28 percent of the group.
The offer depends on the sale by DMGT of its insurance branch and Cazoo, a used car platform.
Cazoo is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a blank check deal valuing the company at $ 7 billion (£ 5 billion).
DMGT has a stake of around 20% in Cazoo, which means the sale of shares is expected to bring in £ 1 billion for the group.
If the Cazoo float and the sale of the RMS insurance division are both completed, Lord Rothermere is considering privatizing DMGT. Delisting the company would mean it is subject to less stringent rules regarding its corporate governance and the information it must publicly disclose.
the Daily mail last year exceeded The sun as the UK’s most widely read printed newspaper. The influential newspaper generates only a small fraction of DMGT’s overall revenue.
DMGT said: “The possible offer involves an enterprise value of £ 810million (with DMGT assuming debt with a fair value of around £ 230million) for all trading activities and investment of DMGT, excluding RMS (the insurance business), Cazoo shares and cash subject to the special dividend.
He added: “The independent directors of DMGT have indicated (…) that they would be prepared to recommend the eventual offer to the shareholders of DMGT.”
Lord Rothermere now has until August 9 to make a formal offer or confirm that no deal will go through, in accordance with stock market rules.
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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-07-12 10:38:12
