(Alliance News) - Daily Mail & General Trust PLC's controlling shareholder, Lord Rothermere, prepares to make an offer to take the newspaper publisher private pending two business disposals, the company said on Monday.
The London-based media company said it is in discussions to sell its insurance risk division, following "enquiries from third parties". DMGT said the terms of the proposed sale would realise a "premium valuation" for shareholders, as it would return the sale proceeds as a 610 pence per share special dividend.
This would be in addition to the direct distribution of shares in used car retailer Cazoo. DMGT holds a 20% stake in Cazoo, which is set to become a publicly traded company after agreeing a takeover by a New York-listed special purpose acquisition company. The deal with publicly-traded vehicle AJAX I for Cazoo is expected to result in USD1.35 for DMGT.
Following the two disposals, the company said Rothermere Continuation Ltd was prepared to make a 251p per share cash offer to take the remainder of DMGT private. This would give an enterprise value to the remainder of DGMT of GBP810 million, the company said. Lord Rothermere himself holds a 29.2% stake in DMGT, according to Morningstar.
If the offer became unconditional, DMGT would no longer be listed, and would be re-registered as a private company.
DMGT shares were trading up 3.7% early Monday at GBP1,078.00p. The company has a market capitalisation of about GBP2.2 billion.
By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com
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