INM plans to transfer €60m to Belgian parent
MEDIAHUIS has confirmed a plan to transfer €60m of the cash pile acquired when it bought Independent News Media (INM) earlier this year to its Belgian parent.
The transfer will be structured as a loan under a so-called revolving credit facility and has been approved by the board of INM. Details of the plan had been shared with the trustees of INM’s employee pensions, who were told the plan is to move the funds by the end of the year.
Mediahuis paid €145.6m for INM earlier this year, a deal that included Ireland’s leading newspaper titles including the Irish Independent, ‘Sunday Independent’, ‘Sunday World’ and ‘Belfast Telegraph’ as well as €80m of cash built up from profits in recent years.
A Mediahuis spokeswoman confirmed the plan to move 75pc of INM’s cash pile to the parent group, a story first reported by the ‘Irish Times’.
“As part of a normal operational practice and being the integrated business that we are, Mediahuis manages bank financing as well as day-to-day treasury on a consolidated (group) level,” she said.
“So, as part of good treasury management, we don’t leave excess cash ‘obsolete’ anywhere within the group. We have formal cash-pooling procedures and contracts in place, and local business units within the group borrow and lend money, depending on needs and excess cash available. So this is in fact a very common practice for any group.”
It is understood that the cash which was being held on deposit in Ireland was making zero interest, while the Mediahuis treasury function is proposing a return on the funds of 0.6pc.
‘We do not leave excess cash ‘obsolete’ anywhere within the group’