Newsquest Receives £904m US Takeover Offer

Regional newspaper publisher, Newsquest, has received a £904 million takeover offer from US publishing group Gannett, it has emerged this morning. The offer of 460p per share represents an 8.7% premium over Newsquest’s closing price yesterday of 423p.

Newsquest, which publishes the Darlington Northern Echo and Bolton Evening News, amongst others, has described the offer as “serious and fair” but has not recommended a deal outright to its share holders. The Board of Newsquest this morning said: “The offer does not represent such a compelling proposal that it could give an outright recommendation to shareholders that it is absolutely in their best interests to accept.”

However, Gannett has already received support from Newsquest shareholders representing 51.7% of the group’s shares, including executive directors and major shareholder Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Commenting on this agreement, James Brown, executive chairman at Newsquest, said: “Gannett is a major media company and the prospect of Newsquest becoming part of Gannett represents a great opportunity for Newsquest and its employees.”

Newsquest publishes 63 paid-for daily and weekly newspapers and 120 free weekly titles. Gannett, which is based in Virginia, USA, publishes 74 daily newspapers, including USA Today. It also operates 21 television stations across the States.

By 10:57am today, Newsquest shares had soared up 31˝p (7.5%) to 454˝p.

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