WINNIPEG – CanWest Global Communications Corp. announced Monday that it intends to maintain its 56% stake in Australia’s third largest television network, Ten.
The Canadian broadcaster said in a statement it had “determined that it is in the best interests of its shareholders to hold a majority voting equity interest in the Ten group, and therefore, intends to exercise its right to exchange its ordinary shares and convertible debentures of Ten into ordinary shares of Ten Network Holdings Ltd. (TNH).”
Trade in shares of Ten Network Holdings was halted in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, following reports that CanWest’s planned sale of the Australia TV network had failed.
CanWest said in October 2006 that it was pondering selling its shares in Ten, which were acquired about 15 years ago.
The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported that interested buyers had been reduced to just private equity firms Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group, but talks with those firms broke down earlier this month.
Merrill Lynch & Co’s buy-out unit and San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman LLC pulled out earlier on concerns the price was too high, stated the newspaper.
“We have spent the last several months considering our strategic options regarding our investments in the South Pacific,” CanWest president and CEO Leonard Asper said in a statement. “In the case of our New Zealand operations, we determined to divest our investment position. In Australia, however, we have determined that retaining our investment in TEN to be in the best interests of our shareholders. We believe that the company’s operations have growth potential still to be realized and that our shareholders would be best served by participating in that potential.”
CanWest’s conversion to ordinary shares in Ten Network Holdings is conditional upon foreign ownership approvals, including that of Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board. The Winnipeg-based broadcaster said that application process is currently underway.
