(Alliance News) - Daily Mail & General Trust PLC on Thursday further extended the deadline for its acquisition by Rothermere Continuation Ltd, owned by the company's biggest shareholder, Jonathan Harmsworth.
Rothermere now has until October 28 to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or that it does not intend to make an offer.
A previous deadline was set for Thursday, but negotiations with the pension trustees at DMGT - which owns the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Metro newspapers - are taking longer than expected.
"Whilst two pre-conditions to the possible offer have now been satisfied, discussions continue with the trustees of DMGT's three pension schemes, in respect of the satisfaction of the remaining non-waivable pre-condition of the possible offer," the company said in its statement Thursday.
Three pre-conditions of any deal were: a successful stock market listing of used car business Cazoo, the sale of the company's insurance division RMS, and a deal with pensioners.
Cazoo listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August, with DMGT, which had a 17% stake in London-based Cazoo, said it has received USD5 million in net cash as part of Cazoo's listing process.
In August, DMGT had struck a deal to sell its RMS insurance risk unit to Moody's Corp. The New York-based credit ratings agency agreed to pay GBP1.43 billion for RMS.
The focus in now on pension trustees and DMGT, with pensioners expecting a substantial cash injection into the fund. Negotiations are ongoing over what level of funding will be handed over.
DMGT shares were trading 0.4% higher in London on Thursday at 1,072.00 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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