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Shares in MediaWorks are being buoyed by expectations that majority owner Ironbridge Capital will make a new offer to mop up remaining shares.
The Australian private equity firm launched a full takeover bid for MediaWorks when it bought CanWest's 70 per cent stake in May. Yesterday, a week after the $2.33 a share offer ended, the stock traded at $2.42, having reached an all-time high of $2.45 on Friday.
The offer closed last Monday with Ironbridge winning 82.6 per cent of shares - short of the 90 per cent threshold at which remaining shareholders must sell.
Ironbridge insists it is happy for the company to remain listed. But some analysts are sceptical and one speculated that Ironbridge would inevitably make a higher offer price.
Analysts note with so few shares to mop up it would not cost much to make a higher offer for the remaining 17.4 per cent held by Brook Asset management and retail investors.
Brook, with 8.6 per cent of MediaWorks, confirmed it had met briefly with Ironbridge to discuss the company's future.
Executive chairman Simon Botherway said Brook had not been buying shares since the offer closed. But he was not surprised the share price had risen since the $2.33 offer - which it had dismissed as too low - had closed.
