FAIRFAX Media will get the first real indication of how much its broadcasting division is worth, with indicative bids for radio stations including 3AW in Melbourne and Sydney's 2UE due today.
John Singleton's Macquarie Radio Network remains the favourite to acquire the broadcast division with many trade buyers and private equity firms ruling themselves out of the process. Gina Rinehart is a potential backer of Macquarie, a $93 million company that would need to conduct a capital raising to fund a purchase.
Ms Rinehart, who owns stakes in Fairfax Media and Ten Network Holdings, is an admirer of Macquarie presenters Alan Jones (2GB) and Andrew Bolt (MTR) and is close to Mr Singleton. Conservative talkback stations fit with her free-market world view, although Ms Rinehart's head of government relations, Cheryl Edwardes, said last month that Ten and Fairfax investments were not made for political influence.
The sale process comes at an interesting time for Fairfax. Shares in the trans-Tasman newspaper and digital group touched 85.5c -- a two-year low -- last week amid concerns about the advertising market, weak retail conditions and structural problems facing publishers....read more
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/bids-for-fairfax-radio-network-due-today/story-e6frg996-1226096381787
