oOh!media turns up heat on takeover bidders

oOh!media has moved its takeover process into a final four-week phase. The company wants three bidders to complete confirmatory diligence and negotiate binding transaction documents.

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Pacific Equity Partners, I Squared Capital and Oaktree Capital Management reconfirmed their non-binding proposals on Friday. The offers range from $1.60 to $1.65 per share.

At Friday’s close, the proposal range represented an 8.5 to 11.9 per cent premium to oOh!media’s $1.475 share price.

What happens next?

The oOh!media board will continue talks with all three parties while they complete their final checks. The bidders will also negotiate transaction documents on terms acceptable to the company.

oOh!media said: “There is no certainty that any proposal will result in a binding offer or that any transaction will eventuate.” The board again advised shareholders to take no action.

The company expects the final process to take up to four weeks. It will continue updating the market under its continuous disclosure obligations.

How the takeover contest developed

Pacific Equity Partners opened the process on 29 April with an unsolicited $1.40-per-share cash proposal. I Squared Capital followed on 11 May with an offer of $1.45 per share.

The board determined that both initial proposals adequately reflected oOh!media’s intrinsic value. It then provided limited due diligence to the bidders and other interested financial sponsors.

After a three-week review, Pacific Equity Partners, I Squared Capital and Oaktree submitted revised proposals. Several of those offers reached $1.60 per share.

oOh!media granted the trio further due-diligence access for up to six weeks in June. The latest update moves the takeover process into a final phase expected to take up to four weeks.

Financial and industry context

In its FY2025 results, oOh!media lifted revenue by 8.8 per cent to $691.36 million. Adjusted underlying net profit after tax rose seven per cent to $63 million.

The approaches come as buyers weigh softer short-term advertising conditions against continued out-of-home industry growth. Australian out-of-home net media revenue increased 5.58 per cent to $385 million during the June quarter.

Outdoor Media Association data showed digital out-of-home accounted for 77.1 per cent of quarterly revenue. That was 1.1 percentage points higher than the corresponding period last year.

The gap between oOh!media’s share price and the bid range may remain until one party submits a binding offer. The company has not indicated that it prefers any of the three bidders.

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