MediaWorks sold to Australian audio company SEG for $107m

The Australian owner of top-rating music radio stations including More FM, The Breeze and The Rock - has been sold to Australian radio firm Sports Entertainment Group for $AUD107.4 million.

Melbourne-based Sports Entertainment Group (ASX: SEG) will acquire MediaWorks, New Zealand's number one audio business, in a deal that will reach more than five million listeners a week.

MediaWorks operates New Zealand's largest commercial radio portfolio, including brands such as The Rock, More FM, The Edge, The Breeze and George FM.

The news was announced today with unaudited results for F26, which value MediaWorks at 5.1 times its CY26 budgeted EBITDA of NZ$25.4 million, a multiple that drops to 4.2 times after $5 million in identified synergies are realised, Business News Australia reports.

SEG expects the deal to be 59 per cent earning per share accretive on a pre-synergies basis and the business will continue to be led by its current CEO Wendy Palmer.

SEG's Craig Hutchison describes the deal as "a transformational step for SEG".

"It gives us immediate market leadership in New Zealand, a highly complementary content offering, and a genuine platform to extend our sport, digital and entertainment capability across the Tasman," he says.

"We are impressed by the MediaWorks team and look forward to working with Wendy Palmer and her team as we bring the two businesses together.”

SEG's Australian audio network spans SEN, LiSTNR and a suite of regional and metropolitan stations.