Kerry Media's SCMP bid stalls

Hong Kong - Kerry Media's attempts to privatise the SCMP Group looks to have ended with the company failing to acquire the 90% share needed to take the publishing company private.

A statement from the SCMP Group, publisher of the South China Morning Post, said only 29% of investors had accepted Kerry Media's offer of $2.75 per share. As of yesterday, Kerry Media owned 75% of the SCMP.

The SCMP today suspended trading of its stock, pending the release of an announcement about the status of its ownership.

A Goldman Sachs report said the fact that only half of the non-Kerry Media shareholders tendered their stock suggested a "lack of enthusiasm" for the $2.75 offer price.

"We assume this may have flowed from an expectation that the Kerry group would sell SCMP's substantial property assets to another Kerry group company following a privatisation at prices above those reported on SCMP's balance sheet," the report said.