The Rothermeres, the family that founded the Daily Mail and Mail Online, have reached an agreement to make the publisher of the Daily Mail und Mail Online private.
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), will pay 1,263p per share. This is a mix cash, dividends and shares of online car seller Cazoo. That is a premium of 16 per cent to Tuesday’s closing price.
Lord Rothermere declared in the summer that he would reorganise the company to make it more media-focused and to buy out the shares the family does have.
The Rothermere family is to take Daily Mail and General Trust private with investors receiving 1,263p per share through a mix of cash, dividends and shares in online car seller Cazoo
Three conditions were required for the deal to be completed: the sale of RMS, Cazoo’s successful stock market listing and a deal with DMGT pension trustees.
RMS, which provided climate and natural disaster modelling to insurance companies, was sold to ratings agency Moody’s in August for £1.4billion. A few weeks later, Cazoo was floated in New York.
Earlier this week DMGT reached a £412million agreement with the company’s pensions trustees, clearing the final obstacle to making a firm offer.
Investors will vote on the deal.
Majedie Asset Management, which owns 4.6 per cent of DMGT’s stock, yesterday said it opposed the deal.
Lord Rothermere said he believed the terms of the deal, which has been recommended by DMGT’s independent directors, were ‘fair’.
Brothers Alfred and Harold Harmsworth launched the Daily Mail in 1896 and DMGT was formed in 1922 to manage the family’s interests.
The company has been listed on stock exchanges for nearly 90 years. It now owns a number of publications, including New Scientist magazine and Metro and i newspapers. It also has an events division.