Pacific Star Network yesterday announced an agreement to sell the business of Morrison Media Services to nextmedia. The Morrison titles formed part of the company’s publishing division, which was responsible for non-sport related publications including Frankie magazine and Smith Journal.
Pacific Star said the sale follows a strategic review of the company’s publishing assets and related opportunities.
The total sale consideration is $2.4 million cash less working capital adjustments. The amount is payable 70% on settlement and 30% on June 30, 2019. The sale represents a multiple of approximately 3.2x FY18 EBITDA.
nextmedia will acquire Morrison’s business assets. Hamish Bayliss, the recently appointed managing director of nextmedia, commented: “We are delighted to add two premium brands to our portfolio and further cement nextmedia’s position as the leader in specialist publishing.”
Craig Hutchison, managing director of Pacific Star, said: “Since announcing the merger with Crocmedia in January 2018, we have undertaken numerous operational and financial initiatives. The sale of Morrison aligns with the continued expansion of our ‘Whole of Sport’ offering. Publishing remains core to our ‘Whole of Sport’ offering. Our recent acquisition of the AFL Publishing business, responsible for the iconic AFL Record publication, complements our broader suite of sporting assets.
“We continue to assess other opportunities to expand our ‘Whole of Sport’ offering and complement our live sports agenda and commercial radio broadcasting rights.”
Settlement and completion of the sale are subject to customary conditions precedent being satisfied, expected to occur by mid-September 2018.
The announcement coincided with the publication yesterday of a special food edition of Frankie magazine.