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TEN creditors vote in favour of CBS bid

Creditors vote for CBS giant after it ups its bid, rejecting Bruce Gordon & Lachlan Murdoch.


Creditors for Network TEN have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bid by CBS, rejecting a rival offer from Bruce Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch.

This morning creditors were given the opportunity to adjourn a meeting but voted to proceed.

CBS and TEN employees, many of whom were disgruntled by company mismanagement, had the lion’s share of the votes today.

Statement:

The Receivers and Managers of Network Ten Holdings (Network Ten), Christopher Hill, Phil Carter and David McEvoy of PPB Advisory, report that at the second meeting of creditors held today, a vote was carried in favour of the Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) put forward by CBS Corporation (CBS) to acquire the Network Ten business and its assets.

Creditor approval for the CBS acquisition of Network Ten followed the selection of CBS as the superior bidder during a rigorous and independent sales process run by PPB Advisory in conjunction with sale adviser, Moelis Australia Advisory.

Network Ten Receiver and Manager, and PPB Advisory Partner, Christopher Hill, said: “We believe the approval of CBS’s DOCA represents a positive outcome for creditors, and ensures the iconic broadcaster continues on a strong and stable footing under the ownership of one of the world’s largest media organisations.”

The full acquisition of Network Ten remains subject to Court and Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval.

Earlier this morning it was confirmed that CBS had increased its offer for the network, agreeing to pay unsecured creditors just over $40 million — an increase of $8 million over its original bid.

Last Friday Bruce Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch upped their offer to unsecured creditors from $35 million to $55 million but the extra $20 million is actually a payout to CBS, as TEN’s largest creditor.

When the CBS payout is excluded, the new $40 million bid from CBS appears to be the higher offer.

Bruce Gordon is expected to appeal yesterday’s court ruling that found administrators KordaMentha had not failed to give creditors vital information about his joint bid with Lachlan Murdoch.

As the Australian Financial Review notes, “Even if creditors back the CBS bid on Tuesday, the Gordon-Murdoch camp still have more legal options to pursue the deal. It is safe to say they will not give up without a fight.

“They can still challenge conditions applied to the CBS’s deed of company arrangement (DOCA)). That deed is only binding once foreign investment and 444GA transfer conditions are met.

“Section 444GA of the Corporations Act allows an administrator to transfer shares in a company with court approval.

“Even if that all went through, the lawyers believe it is possible for a third party unfairly prejudiced by the DOCA to seek to terminate the deal.”

Additional source: ABC

19 Responses

  1. Could someone please clarify this for me? Around 20 years ago Sony bought CBS (so I thought) and CBS Records became Sony Music. But throughout this saga the company has been referred to as CBS, not Sony. So did Sony only buy the music section of CBS and is the TV part is still owned by the Americans? Please explain.

    1. Nov. 1987 CBS Inc. sold its record division to Sony Corp. Only the CBS Records division, nothing more. Last Feb. CBS sold CBS Radio to Entercom. CBS is CBS Television and 50% of CW, and 100%(?) of TEN.

      1. Plus CBS is Showtime and 50% of POP TV with Lionsgate, POP TV was the one that bought Wolfcreek The TV Series and put it on TV in the US and said they were interested in partenering in making the second series. If anyone wants to look into it more they should look at the CBS and Viacom realtionship it’s real corporate shuffling stuff, in short Viacom was a CBS spin-off, then bought CBS. Then they split in two and Viacom became CBS Corporation and Viacom Inc was born which is owned by National Amusements as is the CBS Corporation, well 80% of both anyway.

        Put National Amusements into Wikipedia and get lost down the rabbit hole of following the links.

  2. Wow who else is really excited about this! Ten will finally have the power to do what they need to do to be successful again 🙂 Its going to be really interesting to see how many changes happen and if they finally make Ten news news worthy again 🙂

    1. I am, particulary interested if they bring some of the American sensibilities to the schedule. Like how back in June they announced the Fall Schedule (for September 25th on) and that is what they stick to once it’s announced. Plus with that scedule I would to see them give a go to on the hour, as in how a show like NCIS is on at 8pm (eastern) followed by Bull at 9pm, NCIS New Orleans 10pm. Same as MacGyver at 8pm, Hawaii Five-0 9pm, Blue Bloods 10pm, it’s a great way to do a schedule and you know at this point right up until November what is on when and what time (winter schedule will come out soon).

      The big one for me is how they have no overrun on shows and it fits the alloted time on the schedule (even Big Brother and etc), with all that they could make it turn around, especially with the right programing between 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10.

  3. I think with CBS having the winning bid, they must be thinking like a certain 1995 Channel 10 ident.
    (For those that don’t know I’m referencing “Give Me Ten” Easily found online)

  4. I have no issue with media giant CBS purchasing TEN. A fair dinkum shake up can only be a good thing for viewers. I wonder what this means at 9 and 7? Competition is a good thing, right?

  5. Great news for TEN & CBS. Murdoch could not run a tv network & put ten into receivership so it’s good news that big media comapny CBS will take over & move forward. Ah bad luck Murdoch

  6. Murdoch and his cohorts, ran channel 10 into the ground, and in receivership. Hoping they could get channel 10 very dirt cheap, and now they have been exposed, and its blown right up in their faces.

    CBS is good news for Channel 10.

  7. I think it’s pretty clear now who will get Ten. Bruce can exhaust all of his legal options and waste as much money as he likes on legal fees but I’m now certain it will go to CBS. I also doubt CBS will forget these legal challenges from Bruce which will make for a wonderful partnership of WIN and CBS10 going forward….. 24 hour repeats of Crawford Productions in WIN land anyone?

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