APN Outdoor has entered a trading halt until Wednesday morning, as confirmed by an ASX release.
The ASX statement reads, “The securities of APN Outdoor Group Limited (the ‘Company’) will be placed in a trading halt at the request of the Company, pending the release of an announcement by the Company.
“Unless ASX decides otherwise, the securities will remain in a trading halt until the earlier of the commencement of normal trading on Wednesday 27 June 2018 or when the announcement is released to the market.”
The move follows a bid for APN Outdoor by fellow outdoor media player JCDecaux last Thursday.
The initial offer was submitted as an unsolicited non-binding proposal to acquire 100 per cent of APN Outdoor, with the help of Goldman Sachs as JCDecaux’s advisor.
Speaking on the move last Thursday, JCDecaux co-chief executive Jean-François Decaux said, “JCDecaux is committed to expanding its operations in Australia through organic and inorganic investment and believes the proposed transaction provides an attractive proposal for APN Outdoor shareholders at a price implying a premium EBITDA multiple to sector benchmarks.”
APN Outdoor addressed the bid in a follow-up ASX statement, which detailed a number of conditions needed to be approved before the acquisition could get the green light.
Included in these was “a requirement that APO does not proceed to acquire Adshel”.
Yesterday, a statement on the ASX confirmed oOh!media would be acquiring outdoor furniture company Adshel for $570 million, meaning that particular condition was no longer relevant.
In October, APN Outdoor named James Warburton as its CEO to take over from Richard Herring.
