DIGITAL media group Destra maintained yesterday that it was still in the market to make a solo bid for Beyond International, despite aborting a capital raising last month for a tilt at the TV and film production house.Nick Tabakoff | The Australian | 3 January 2008
And the company has confirmed it has held talks with Mariner Financial, its main rival in taking over Beyond, about the possibility of a joint bid.
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of the Media Section of The Australian."We're open to possibilities of a solo bid or a joint bid," Destra chief Dominic Carosa said.
"We're open to exploring all the options, and I should note for the record, we're still conducting due diligence (on Beyond)."
Mr Carosa's claim of Destra's continued interest have come in the face of claims by Mariner executive chairman Bill Ireland that Mariner was the "only credible bidder" left for Beyond.
Mr Ireland lashed out last week at Beyond's rejection of Mariner's now-lapsed $1.25-a-share, $74.6 million bid for the production house, in favour of waiting for a possible higher rival bid from Destra, which has so far not eventuated.
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Nick Tabakoff | The Australian | 2 January 2008
Rivals could gang up on Beyond
THERE are growing signs the two rival companies bidding for Beyond International - Mariner Financial and digital media group Destra - may yet join forces to take control of the TV and film production house.
The Australian understands the two parties held talks late in 2007 about initiating a bid involving a two-way carve-up of the company. Initial talks are believed to have foundered because Destra was looking to have a controlling interest of at least 50.1 per cent: an outcome not satisfactory to Mariner, which also wanted to control the company.
Mariner's latest bid, which ended last month, was for $1.25 a share, valuing Beyond at $74.6 million. Destra launched an aborted push last month to raise funds for a rival takeover bid.
However, there are now signs that the two main bidding parties will return to the negotiating table in the coming weeks, to discuss working co-operatively on a bid for Beyond.
In an interview with The Australian last week, Mariner Financial's executive chairman Bill Ireland - best known for launching the Challenger financial services group in the 1980s - hinted at a joint bid.
"We're the largest shareholder, and Destra's got 10 per cent. These are hypotheticals, but one possibility is we get together with Destra and get what each wants out of (Beyond)."
It is understood Mr Ireland and representatives of Destra, including its chief executive Dominic Carosa, were in discussions for weeks in 2007 about the possibility of a joint bid.
It is now believed Mariner - which, as an owner of just under 20 per cent of Beyond, is the production house's largest shareholder - is planning to initiate further discussions early in the new year about co-operating on a bid, not necessarily involving joint ownership of the company.
Sources suggest there could even be a programming supply agreement between the two parties, with Mariner owning the lion's share of the company and simply supplying content to benefit the expanding digital media business, which owns just over 10 per cent of Beyond.
Mr Carosa late last year indicated Destra's major concern was to find content for new media platforms being created in the information age. "We believe that as the internet becomes fast, cheap internet becomes ubiquitous, and delivering niche content becomes a lot easier," he said.
To read the rest of "Rivals Could Gang Up on Beyond", please go to THE AUSTRALIAN website >>