The son also rises: Lachlan Murdoch buys stake in Aussie media company
30 Apr 2009
Lachlan Murdoch has made his first big media investment in Australia since starting his own company more than three years ago. A year after shelving a $3.3-billion bid for Consolidated Media Holdings, Murdoch has emerged with a major stake in Paul Ramsay's Prime Media Group.
Murdoch's Illyria Nominees bought a 9.1-per cent stake in the regional radio and television broadcaster, offering close to $16 million in Prime's recent capital raising issue of $110 million. It is believed to be the largest investment he has made since leaving his father Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire in 2005, seeking to build a media empire of his own.
Incidentally, Murdoch also has a stake in Indian Premier League cricket team Rajasthan Royals, for which paid $67 million.
Network Investment Holdings, a subsidiary of Kerry's Stokes' Seven Network, will hold 11.6 per cent of Prime, while chairman and biggest shareholder Paul Ramsay's holding will goes down from 42.6 per cent to to 30.1 per cent.
Seven, which provides programming to Prime's TV stations, spent about $20 million to support its regional partner. Prime, which has earmarked the money for debt relief, said on Tuesday it had completed the book building for shares that were not previously taken up by retail investors.
Pressure had been building on the company to shore up its balance sheet after it had doubled its debt over the past three years with a string of radio acquisitions, the takeover of the Becker Group and its ill-fated investment in the collapsed digital media company Destra.
Murdoch has been seeking media opportunities since his aborted deal last year to privatise Consolidated Media Holdings with James Packer. However, Murdoch has collected smaller assets including a stake in the Indian IPL and a holding in Funtastic, the troubled toy, clothing and DVD distributor.
Murdoch acquired most of his holding in Prime through the institutional and retail offers and was also issued about 3.28 million shares through a private placement. He has about 32 million shares overall, worth $16 million at yesterday's closing price.