Doubts over rival bid for Paramount after press release is pulled
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Update, 9:50am AEST: A BusinessWire press release claiming that Apex Capital Trust, a financial conglomerate, had made a USD43 billion ($66 billion) bid for Paramount Global was pulled by the PR service, Variety reported. The release, issued at 10:32am ET, was widely quoted in news reports, including by Reuters and Bloomberg, leading to a spike in Paramount's share price. According to Variety, the announcement was pulled by BusinessWire at 3pm ET, with no clarification from BusinessWire or Apex Capital Trust's PR representatives. Reuters and Bloomberg have now retracted their stories.
Paramount declined to comment when contacted by Capital Brief, while Apex Capital Trust did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Here is the original briefing...
The news: Shares in Paramount Global rose as much as 4% to USD11.70 on Wednesday after Reuters reported a competing investor – Apex Capital Trust – had submitted an offer to acquire Paramount Global for up to USD43 billion.
The numbers: According to the report Apex's all-cash offer includes buying National Amusements, which controls Paramount, at USD35 per Class A voting share and USD23.28 per Class B non-voting share—both representing a 33% premium over recent highs. The firm also plans to assume Paramount’s USD15.8 billion debt, pay a USD400 million break-up fee to Skydance Media, and inject USD10 billion in working capital into the media company, Reuters said.
The context: The reported new bid follows extended negotiations between David Ellison’s Skydance Media and Shari Redstone’s National Amusements to acquire Paramount that last month resulted in a merger agreement, that included a 45-day "go-shop" period for alternative offers.
Neither Paramount nor National Amusements has confirmed the new offer.
The source: Reuters
