| Decision | Consent granted Section 13(1)(a) Overseas Investment Act 2005 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 21 November 2008 |
| Investment | An overseas investment in significant business assets, being the Applicant's direct or indirect acquisition of rights or interests in up to 100.0% of the securities in PBL Media Holdings Pty Limited and up to 100.0% of the securities in PBL Media Holdings Trust, the consideration of which exceeds $100m. |
| Asset Value | $121,632,224 (NZ$ book value of NZ assets) |
| Applicant | Red Earth Holdings B.V. United States of America (53.82%) Various (12.26%) United Kingdom (13.06%) Singapore (5.89%) Netherlands (5.34%) United Arab Emirates (5.37%) Canada (4.26%) |
| Background | Red Earth Holdings B.V. (Red Earth) was granted consent on 6 June 2007 (A200710073/D200710064) to acquire 50 percent of the issued securities in each of PBL Media Holdings Pty Limited (PBL Media) and PBL Media Holdings Trust (Media Trust). On 16 July 2007 (A200710108/D200720007), Red Earth was granted consent to acquire 75 percent of the issued securities in each of PBL Media and Media Trust. PBL is Australia's leading diversified media company with interests in media, gaming and entertainment. PBL's businesses include ACP Media Limited, New Zealand's largest magazine publisher. As part of a restructuring and recapitalisation of CMH's businesses, PBL Media and Media Trust were established to hold media interests, including ACP Magazines, Nine Network, Ticketek, its 50% interest in ninemsn and its 50.6% shareholding in carsales.com.au. Red Earth seeks consent to acquire up to 100 percent of issued securities of PBL Media and Media Trust. Red Earth may either acquire new securities to be issued by PBL Media and Media Trust or it may acquire securities held by CMH. PBL Media is seeking raise further capital of up to A$300 million to assist in deleveraging the business and resetting the financial covenants that apply to the PBL Media Group. CMH has announced its intention not to contribute additional capital to PBL Media. The overseas investment transaction has satisfied the criteria in section 18 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005. |
| More information | Garth Sinclair Russell McVeagh (Auckland) PO Box 8 AUCKLAND |