US local TV station owner Tegna is selling to private equity firms Standard General and Apollo Global for a total price, including debt, of $8.6bn. The deal ends a fierce battle for control that had begun after Standard General became the largest Tegna shareholder and attempted to gain board seats.
Tegna owns 64 local TV stations in 51 US markets and is the largest independent owner of NBC affiliate stations. It was formed in 2015 when Gannett split itself in two, spinning out the TV stations, while retaining the newspaper business.After the deal completes, Tegna stations in the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas, and Houston are due to be acquired by Cox Media Group. In addition, Tegna’s ‘online TV’ advertising platform Premion “is expected to operate as a stand-alone business majority owned by Cox Media Group and Standard General.”
Last month, Apollo acquired a minority stake in “Dune,” producer Legendary Entertainment for $760m.
