CanWest Sells Ten Network Stake
By Lyndal McFarland
MELBOURNE -- Canada's CanWest Global Communications Corp. said Thursday it has sold its 50.1% stake in Australian television broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd. for around 680 million Australian dollars (US$594 million).
The sale ends months of speculation that embattled CanWest would dump its stake in Ten, which operates one of Australia's three commercial free-to-air television networks.
CanWest has faced significant debt problems and has been locked in tough negotiations with bond holders for months. CanWest said in a statement the sale will help it pay down debt.
CanWest said it sold the shares to Macquarie Capital Advisers. A person familiar with the situation said Macquarie Capital Advisers is looking to on-sell the shares to institutional investors at A$1.30 a share -- a 4.7% discount to Ten's last traded price of A$3.365.
CanWest's stake sale comes after a strong rally in Ten's share price, which hit an all time low of 61 cents in March.