Johnston Seals Portsmouth & Sunderland’s Fate With £266m Offer

The long-running battle to take control of regional newspaper publisher, Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers (P&SN), looks set to end today as Johnston Press moves in with an agreed takeover offer of 2,225p per share.

The offer values P&SN at £266 million and is a 15.4% premium on the company’s closing price of 1,950p yesterday. Johnston’s moves outstrips rival offers by Newsquest and Newscom, which had also been looking to takeover P&SN (see Newsline).

Each of the regional publishers submitted proposals to the Competition Commission (then the Monopolies & Mergers Commission), which passed its recommendation over to the Department of Trade & Industry at the end of last week. Stephen Byers, trade secretary, will rule on all the bids by mid-June.

P&SN recently disposed of its One Stop convenience shop interests, netting £66 million in the sale to T&S Stores (see Sharewatch). This allowed Johnston to raise its offer to the agreed £266 million. Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen, chairman of P&SN, says: “We believe we have achieved a very fair price for P&SN, reflecting the strategic importance of its publishing businesses. The quality of P&SN has been demonstrated by the level of interest shown in P&SN by a number of parties.”

At 1:15pm today, Johnston’s shares were down ˝p at 273p, whereas P&SN had surged 272˝p (14%) to 2,223p. Newscom and Newsquest both remained unchanged.

Johnston Press: 0171 466 5000 Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers: 0171 248 4000