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Murdoch son's CMH bid fails
Bill Condie, Evening Standard7 Apr 2008
The A$3.2 billion (£1.47 billion) bid by Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan for Australia's Consolidated Media Holdings (CMH) appears dead, after the young tycoon's second financing deal collapsed.
The sticking point is said to be an impasse between Mudoch's partner Jamie Packer, himself the son of a media mogul, the late Kerry Packer, and Rhode Island private-equity player Providence Equity Partners.
Murdoch brought Providence to the table after the original investor, San Francisco-based SPO Partners, broke off talks due to the global credit crisis and a rising Aussie dollar.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Packer, who had initially been a 50-50 partner with Murdoch, now wants to sell down the CMH stake to just 25%.
That has left Murdoch struggling to convince the financier to take a bigger stake. But Providence says if it were to take more equity, Packer must accept less than the A$4.80 CMH share price.
