Lachlan Murdoch bids $2.9B for media firm

Lachlan Murdoch bids $2.9B for media firm
If approved, the deal between Rupert Murdoch's son and Consolidated Media would unite Australia's two most powerful media dynasties.


SYDNEY, Australia (Dow Jones/AP) -- Lachlan Murdoch, son of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, announced a bid Monday to buy Australian media operation Consolidated Media Holdings for $2.9 billion.

The deal is being driven by Lachlan Murdoch's private investment vehicle Illyria Pty., unnamed equity partners and Consolidated Media's major shareholder Consolidated Press Holdings, the target's board said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

Illyria and its partners plan to set up a 50/50 joint venture with Consolidated Press to run Consolidated Media as a private company, the statement said. Consolidated Media, among other things, holds stakes in pay television business Foxtel and Australia's Nine television network.

The deal would bring together Australia's two most powerful media dynasties. Australia's richest man James Packer, a friend and contemporary of Lachlan Murdoch, is executive chairman of Consolidated Press and executive deputy chairman of Consolidated Media.

Lachlan Murdoch's move is independent of News Corp (NWS, Fortune 500). He left his father's Australia-born global media business in 2005 but remains a News Corp. director. He now runs private investment fund Illyria.

Consolidated Press has given its support to the proposal but is still to reach final agreement with Lachlan Murdoch's fund as to the terms of the consortium, the statement said.

Shakeup at News Corp.
Trading in Consolidated Media's shares was halted before the Australian market opened Monday.

The statement, issued after the market closed, described the proposal as nonbinding and indicative.

Completion of the deal is subject to a number of conditions including discussions with Australia's securities regulator, finalization of funding and a joint venture agreement between Consolidated Press and Illyria, Illyria said in a statement.

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