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CanWest rumoured to be seeking TEN buyers

Updated: There are reports CanWest is sounding out buyers for its 56.6% share in Network TEN.

ten-banner3There are reports today CanWest is indeed looking to sell its 56.6% share in Network TEN to raise about A$390 million ($258 million).

The Australian Financial Review said CanWest had been sounding out institutional investors including Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AX), which owns 6.5 percent of TEN, and 452 Capital which has 5.7 percent.

CanWest is battling to restructure a debt burden of C$3.7 billion ($2.92 billion), but according to Reuters would not comment on whether it has approached institutions.

AFR cited industry sources as saying CanWest was probably looking at a price of around 75 Australian cents for its TEN shares, which was the floor price in an unsuccessful capital raising TEN staged last month.

CanWest extended its deadline to bankers from March 11 to April 7.

Updated: CanWest denies rumours.

Source: Reuters

18 Responses

  1. I know it will not happen but one of the paytv networks should buy TEN-(Foxtel). That way they can buy up all the sports rights they are so much after and p@%s off Channel 7 at the same time.
    If TEN is owned by Foxtel you might actually have a situation where they not only use the 3 channels for different services, but we might actually get to see the shows that end up being bought by paytv when the networks dump them for more repeats and lifestyle/reality programming.

  2. Wow, Fairfax sounding out Ten via AFR so that shareholders (institutions mainly) can make some cap gain in a lousy share market year.

    CanWest now selling out here is last resort because their debt issues are far worse than Ten being sold off can resolve. Ten is solid business in a poor market at present but 2 years from now will be worth alot more if ONE becomes successful. They might sell it then if debts “have” to be paid. The debts can now always be renegotiated and delayed otherwise it’s a worldwide firesale of media

  3. David, what’s the situation with the old media law preventing a media (e.g. TV) reaching 75% of the potential Aust audience? This effectively prevented any one single media from broadcasting to both regional and metro. Is this still in place post the Howard govt’s media law restructure? This law (if still in place) would prevent the scenario of WIN buying 9, Mac Media buying 10 etc.

  4. Now there’s a good idea. WIN buys 9. That should improve programming. I often wonder what the affiliates think of the way 9 has gone considering, when aggregation began in the 90’s, becoming part of 9 was the most favourable position for the regionals. (Followed by 7, then 10)

    Google-10 – there’s another good idea, but I doubt google would see it as worth-while investment.

    And if a bank ended up owning 10, they should charge late fees every time a program starts late!

  5. Fairfax just offloaded Southern Star to Endemol right?
    What are the chances they’ll replace a producer/distributor with a broadcaster?

    Lachlan Murdoch’s burgeoning empire would be a solid bet.

  6. Maybe Google should buy it… Given it’s a youth oriented network [oops nearly said ‘orientated’!], it would be a good platform to push their thousands of products, and hook the kiddies onto Google products early on… Just a thought.

  7. I should have explained that more clearly, I meant re-entry into free-to-air television, as Fairfax is a former owner of a few Channel 7 stations, prior to 1987 and News Limited at one stage owned Ten in Sydney and Melbourne.

    When News owned TEN and ATV, back in the eighties, Ten’s news was what Seven’s is now, not tabloid, but #1 (particularly in Melbourne, where 7 and 9 started at 6:30 and 1/2 hr long, while 10 started at 6pm and went for a hour) due to their hour-long format, and News Limited’s investment in sporting rights, including their first run in with the ARL, and rights to two Summer Olympic Games, in 1984 (LA) and 1988 (Seoul).

    While Fairfax, the less said on a Victorian blog, after what they did to Channel 7 Melbourne in 1987, the better.

    Ten as of March 26 is a multi-channel broadcaster, with extensive investment needed for future growth past 2010. But whoever buys CanWest’s stake may have a big say in Ten’s direction in 2010 and beyond. 10 in ’10, sounds like a pearler of a rebrand slogan!

  8. WIN already owns a 13% share in TEN…maybe they might increase their share?

    The figures being discussed are a fair way off the $2.90 a share CanWest were being offered last year!!

  9. Would like to see News Ltd buy it. Just out of curiosity. To see what they would do with it brand-wise, sports-wise, content-wise, news-wise. With their media empire and resources they’d be capable of a total re-branding/building relatively easily.

  10. well i think ONE HD will do well so who ever buys 10 buys ONE HD, yet i dont really know if its a good idea to buy a tv station anymore, with this thing called the internet.

  11. @Kuttyswood: doesn’t News own 25% of Foxtel? How would this be a “re-entry” into television?

    I’d prefer Fairfax – I’ve seen enough of News’ efforts.

  12. Either Macquarie Bank’s Media division or Lachlan Murdoch will end up owning the Ten Network within 6 months.
    Oh, and Bruce Gordon’s WIN-TV will end up devouring the Nine Network. By December 2009.

  13. What would Australian owners do for Ten? I honestly think Canwest should look outside the Ten shareholder cartel. They should look for a buyer with a strong online prescence that Ten currently lacks, compared to 7’s Yahoo7 and 9’s ninemsn.

    The only two groups that fit the bill, are News Ltd and Fairfax.

    For both it would mean a re-entry into television, with a focus on what Ten needs to get rid of, prior to profits.

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