Seven West Media (ASX:SWM) has announced it has taken a 14.9% stake in Prime Media Group (ASX:PRT) following a rejection by a majority of Prime shareholders of a proposed merger of Seven and Prime.
As a result of the merger rejection, Seven and Prime have agreed to terminate the Scheme Implementation Deed.
Seven has agreed to acquire 54,594,367 shares in Prime from Spheria Asset Management Pty Ltd in exchange for the issue of 30,000,000 new shares in seven.
Commenting on the shareholder vote and newly-acquired stake in Prime, Seven Managing Director and CEO, James Warbuton said, “While we’re disappointed with the outcome of [the shareholder] vote, we remain committed to Prime. As Prime itself has said, ‘the business is under pressure to meet regional Australia’s needs and [the] outcome is an unfortunate result for them and their shareholders.'”
Warburton went on to say Seven’s investment would provide stability for Prime, and support regional Australia and regional news.
“We look forward to contimuing our longstanding relationship with Prime, delivering outstanding content for them in 2020.