Bruce Gordon behind recent raid on Nine shares
WIN TV media mogul is behind a raid on Nine shares, which ACMA is actively monitoring.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
WIN billionaire Bruce Gordon has been revealed as the mystery buyer behind a recent raid on Nine Entertainment Co.’s shares, valued at $50m.
Both The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald report the shares were part of a complex deal with Deutsche Bank to avoid breaching media ownership laws. Gordon is already at the maximum 14.99% share permitted under the Broadcast Services Act.
It is understood that Deutsche bought the shares on market as part of a derivative contract it has with Bruce Gordon. At the end of the agreement, Mr Gordon does not get the shares from Deutsche Bank, but instead receives the cash difference between where the share price was when the swap was agreed and where it is when it finished. Mr Gordon would have to buy those shares on the market.
The move underlines the view that Gordon is pursuing a merger with Nine if the federal government’s media reform package is approved. Nine Chairman Peter Costello has said he also does not support Gordon joining the board while WIN and Nine are locked in a until a court battle and affiliate talks are resolved.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Communications and Media Authority said, “The ACMA is aware of the recent ASX announcement by Bruce Gordon, Birketu Pty Ltd and WIN Corporation Pty Ltd. It is actively monitoring the situation and has no further comment to make at this stage.”
Bruce Gordon also owns 15% of Network TEN.
9 Responses
Bruce Gordon needs to find himself a hobby.
I feel for the three hundred staff at Win tv Wollongong headquarters if the merger goes ahead with nine they will all loose their jobs once nine takes over . Nine is not interested in local content . It will jsut make WIN a relay station for nine there goes local news ..what Bruce is doing is perfectly legal and a smart business man
With WIN/Bruce Gordon buying more and more shares in Nine, it seems like WIN taking over Nine, rather than Nine taking over WIN. I would be more nervous if I was still at Nine now.
can you explain your comment? gordon seems to be slowly buying 9… and if the new media laws pass, they are supposed to protect local content on sale or future mergers… my bet now is this.. gordon buys 9… but not before 9 buys austero radio assets… then Ten buys or mergers with SCA Ten Tv regional … leaving a austero and nine/win merge being a major tv/radio merge…. watch this space see how far off iam
SCA will be the predator not the prey. SCA has market capitalisation of $920 Million, TEN is worth $391 Million, Nine is worth $1.4 Billion (they were broke remember, debt was bought and company refloated) SCA’s EBITDA is much stronger than Nine and TEN. Nine is fat and poorly run and profits are very low VS operations…
Get out of the TV business Bruce. You have no passion for it. Bring back Kerry Packer
You mean do a Lazarus? I’d rather bring back Bowie
So whats the point in having Laws when they can be circumvented?
In Nine are going to profit from jacking up affiliation fee, driving down the profit margins and worth of WIN, Gordon is going to try and get a piece of it.