Australasian news publisher Fairfax Media this morning confirmed to investors that a "non-binding indicative proposal" from US-based private equity firm TPG to buy its three most powerful Australian newspaper titles and the company's real estate website, Domain, but questioned whether the deal could be done.
"The Fairfax board notes there is no certainty that the indicative proposal is capable of being implemented, given the complexity involved in splitting the businesses," a company statement to the Australian Securities Exchange says. "The proposed split may not optimise shareholder value."
Pitched at 95 Australian cents per share, the bid values the assets sought at around A$2.5 billion (NZ$2.68b).
The proposal would leave Fairfax's New Zealand news assets, which include the Stuff website and numerous newspaper titles including The Dominion Post, Christchurch's The Press, the Waikato Times, and Taranaki Daily News, and a range of Australian radio stations in what The Australian newspaper today described as "a sorry grab-bag of rump assets".
"Fairfax will be reduced to a regional publishing unit, a 54 per cent stake in Macquarie radio network, a half share of the new streaming service Stan, plus a rump New Zealand business that it has tried to offload by merging with its rival," wrote media columnist Mark Day.