The listed Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), the owner of the UK’s Daily Mail and other news and information brands is now expected to revert to private ownership, having resolved outstanding issues with the comany’s pension funds. DMGT has already sold risk management company RMS and separately floated online car retailer Cazoo in preparation for the move. The minority owners – the family of Lord (Jonathan) Rothermere (who hold 100% of the voting shares) – have now made an offer for the 64% of ordinary shares they don’t already own, at a 16% premium to Tuesday’s share price.
The offer has been recommended by directors, although some institutional investors are reportedly seeking to resist the DMGT deal on its current terms. The go-private transaction is worth £2.9bn for a company with revenues around £1bn, and an enterprise value of £850m. It proposes to pay 255p per share, along with an equity stake in Cazoo, and special and final dividends of 568p and 17.3p respectively.
Approval of the deal is now subject to a 90% vote by the non-Rothermere family shareholders.
In other news, DMGT this week bought podcaster Entale Media, in which it had first invested £2m two years ago. Entale adds relevant content to podcasts to supplement the user experience, and has incurred losses of £1.8m in its four years. It was founded by former Conde Nast digital boss Wil Harris who is also publisher of DMGT’s The Knowledge, potential rival to The Week.
In March this year, DMGT paid £59m in net cash (8 x 2021 EBITDA, 3 x revenue) for the 120k-circulation New Scientist magazine.
