Mirror Group-Trinity Talks Fizzle And Die

Takeover talks between the Mirror Group and regional newspaper publisher, Trinity International, broke down for a second time yesterday amid rumours of clashes within Mirror’s management.

Mirror Group has been in intermittent talks with Trinity since May last year but pulled out early in negotiations saying that it did not want to compete with rival bidder Axel Springer to take control of Mirror (see Trinity Pulls Out Of Mirror Talks). Eventually, after a long silence from Springer, the company pulled out of negotiations in June (see Springer Abandons Mirror Move).

The result of these protracted discussions was that Mirror’s share price plummeted: before the takeover discussions began last year Mirror Group was valued at 210˝p per share. At 12:24pm today Mirror’s shares were trading at 165p. This makes the actual value of the company a contentious issue. It is believed that Mirror’s chief executive, David Montgomery, has been reluctant to accept an offer from Trinity; Sir Victor Blank, Mirror’s new chairman (see New Chairman Appointed For Mirror Group), on the other hand, is thought to be behind a deal.

Trinity is the UK’s largest regional publisher commanding a combined weekly circulation of 5.1 million copies a week last year. A merger with Mirror would have created the country’s largest newspaper group. However, an abrupt statement issued by Trinity yesterday said that it was “withdrawing from merger talks with the Mirror Group with immediate effect.”

It is not clear exactly what caused the negotiations to breakdown, although price is thought to be the central issue of the talks. Montgomery is reported as saying that the company is still interested in a potential deal with Trinity but only if the offer does not undervalue the Mirror Group’s interests. Throughout all the talks between the two companies a takeover sum has never been made official.

Mirror Group: 0171 293 3000 Trinity International: 0171 457 2345