Press details ‘in time’

Press, 10 April 1987, Page 22

Press details ‘in time’

An announcement concerning the future of the J shares in the Christchurch Press Company, Ltd, held by Pyne Gould Guinness, Ltd (PGG), would be made at an opportune time, said PGG’s managing director, Mr Bob Dewar, last evening. The Press directors issued a “don’t sell” warning to shareholders on Wednesday, and Mr Dewar was reported as saying that his company had been approached about its 50.14 per cent holding in the Press Company. However, Mr Dewar was unable to give an indication on when an announcement was likely

concerning these negotiations. The managing director of Wilson and Horton, Ltd, Mr H. M. Horton, said he had no comment to make on whether his company had approached PGG for its shareholding in the Press Company. Asked whether his company was interested in buying the 50.14 per cent shareholding in the Press, he again said “no comment.” The company which has approached PGG over its majority shareholding in The Christchurch Press Company, Ltd, cannot be identified through Commerce Commission records. The public register does not list any company interested in acquiring more than a 20 per cent holding in the company, although the application could be one of about five confidential proposals made in the last week. Commerce Commission approval must be sought if the combined assets of

both companies total more than SIOOM and the smaller of the two companies has assets of more than SSM. However, the requirements are sometimes waived if the subject of the take-over bid is a publisher of daily or Sunday newspapers. If any company with existing publishing or printing interests wishes to take over “The Press,” Commerce Commission approval must be sought. Therefore Wilson and Horton, Ltd, the owner of Auckland’s “New Zealand Herald” and the company tipped to be behind the bid, would have to seek the Commission’s approval should it want more than 20 per cent of Press shares. The registrar of mergers and takeovers with the Commission, Ms Deirdre Wogan, said that if the Commission’s approval is necessary, it must be notified within 15 days of agreement being reached.

It was possible the proposal could be confidential, she said. “It could be that no agreement has yet been reached. They may still actually be negotiating. “An application may also be on its way,” Ms Wogan said. From the date of the proposal being registered, the Commission must . make an initial decision on the application within 20 days.