ITV rejects latest takeover bid from Dyke consortium

LONDON – ITV chiefs have rejected a second offer from the Greg Dyke-fronted consortium attempting to take over the commercial broadcaster.

The revised deal, which offered shareholders 86p a share in cash and a new share in the acquiring company as well as a cash alternative of 44p for each new share, was rejected.

This would have amounted to a £1.27bn investment funded partly by the consortium, which involves Apax Partners, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, as well as increasing the company's debt to £3.5bn.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange this morning, the board said it had met with the consortium yesterday but unanimously rejected the fresh offer.

It said: "Fundamentally all of these key elements were unchanged from the consortium's previous proposal, save that the underwritten cash alternative had been increased so that the cash price for shareholders, who would not have wished to hold shares in this highly leveraged company, was increased from 120p a share in the original proposal to 130p a share in the revised proposal."

The statement adds that the board felt this level of debt was "unduly risky" and the proposed cash exit was still not enough.

Shares in ITV were trading down by 2p at 123.5p following the announcement, a fall of 1.6%.

If eventually successful, the consortium's plans for ITV included a merger with Five, re-entering the pay-TV market and installing former BBC director-general Dyke as chief executive in place of Charles Allen.

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