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SYDNEY - Australian television broadcaster Seven Network has taken a stake in publisher John Fairfax Holdings as freshly cashed-up Seven readies for a shake-up of the country's A$12 billion ($13.7 billion) media industry.
Shares in Fairfax - which owns newspapers in this country including the Dominion Post and the Christchurch Press - hit a 6-year high of A$5.30.
"Do we have a small stake in Fairfax? Yes, we can confirm that," said a spokesman at Seven, the country's second-biggest broadcaster controlled by media mogul Kerry Stokes.
Seven's stake in Fairfax - considered one of Australia's four most likely media takeover targets - was less than 5 per cent, the spokesman said, while a Fairfax spokesman said it could be smaller than 2 per cent. It was not clear when Seven bought the stake.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought 7.5 per cent of Fairfax in October.
"People are taking a seat at the table," said Scott Maddock, analyst at 2MG Asset Management.
"Fairfax is probably still too big for Seven to buy themselves, but there are almost certainly assets there that they would like to have a piece of, so it's just being in the game," he said.
Media groups have been jostling for position before new laws come into effect next year allowing owners of one media platform - newspapers, radio or television - to own a second platform in the same market.
Seven, which also grabbed a 14.9 per cent stake in West Australian Newspapers Holdings in October, has more than A$3 billion to invest after last month's A$4 billion joint venture with private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
Seven shares were 3.1 per cent higher at $A10.81. The stock has gained 38 per cent since June lows, although it has eased off a high of A$12.41 it hit last month.
- REUTERS
