Bruce Gordon owner of WIN and Nine Entertainment’s largest shareholder is reportedly mulling a full takeover of Nine.
Gordon currently owns 19.98 per cent of Nine through its private investment firm, Birketu. Sources have told The Australian that he intends to convert to equity by November that will take his shareholding to 25.22 per cent.
The sources told the Murdoch-owned paper he was tossing up whether to then make a full takeover bid for Nine or use the creep provision to increase his stake by 3 per cent every six months the sale of Domain was completed.
The Australian said Gordon was more likely to use the creep provision and that Nine’s valuation would drop once the sale of Domain had been finalised.
“The Gordons love media,” one insider told The Australian.
Gordon first invested in Nine a decade ago, paying $200m for 13 per cent, which expanded his stake to 14.95 per cent. He before further increased his effective holding via a swap deal six months later.
His stake was diluted in 2018 when Nine merged with Fairfax. Since then, he’s used creep provisions to increase his shareholding. In February, Gordon sold off several regional TV licences that would have stood in the way of him acquiring control of Nine.
The Australian also reported that Gordon would look to bind WIN more closely to Nine if he were to take a controlling stake in the latter. As the two companies share sales functions and WIN is already largely co-branded with Nine, The Australian said such a move would not result in major job losses.
The exception might be the MediaHub division, given Nine is already a co-owner in the larger TXA, which it owns with Seven.
