New twist in Ten bid

BRUCE Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch have lobbed a new bid for Ten Network, triggered by media reforms, that trumps their original offer and that of rival bidder CBS.

In the latest twist to the battle for control of Ten, the administrator KordaMentha received the new proposal at lunchtime yesterday.

It came after the Senate on Thursday passed sweeping overhauls of media ownership and concentration laws.

The structure proposed by Mr Gordon and Mr Murdoch, the co-chairman of Gold Coast

Bulletin publisher News Corp, allows shareholders to keep 25 per cent of their equity, with Ten to be relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange. This would enable Ten’s 17,000 shareholders to share in any recovery under Mr Murdoch and Mr Gordon. Under the CBS bid, the US media giant would own 100 per cent of Ten.

KordaMentha will be faced with a decision about whether to put the fresh proposal to a meeting of Ten’s creditors on Tuesday, when they will vote on the CBS bid.

Under the revised terms, the maximum payment to unsecured creditors has increased by 57 per cent from $35 million to $55 million, compared with $32 million with CBS.

The revised bid is 72 per cent higher than the proposed payment under the CBS bid, backed by KordaMentha.