Bauer Running the Ruler over SCA?

Bauer Media is Europe’s largest family owned radio group. They have acquired a mass of stations over the years, most recently the SBS Broadcasting Group with stations in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland. In the UK, Bauer’s brands are well-known, think Absolute Radio with Kerang, Planet Rock, Clyde and Magic to name a few.

The Bauer Media Group have been on our shores since 2012, owning a number of a number of print titles in Australia, which they bought off Nine Entertainment Co for $525 million a few years back.

While Fairfax Media reported  in early October that the German group had made “several” approaches to Illyria investments, the parent company of Nova Entertainment, today it’s News Corps turn to fan the takeover speculation.

Who are they looking at? Southern Cross Austereo.

The Australian  reports that Bauer is looking down the barrel of a potential $1 billion take of SCA. Unlike the informal talks that both the Nine Network and SCA confirmed last week, Bauer Media wouldn’t have to wait for media law changes to make a move.

With Bauer Media owning only magazine print titles in Australia, they don’t breach the reach rule or the two-out-of-three rule, which prevents a single entity from owning a newspaper, a free-to-air TV station and a radio licence in the same metro market.

Whichever way its pans out, all the speculation has been a real positive on SCA’s share price which has surged 32% since October.

With Bauer Media’s July network acquisitions in Europe, their Global Chief Yvonne Bauer has been quoted in media saying: “Together with print and online, radio is an important business field for the Bauer Media Group.”

Interesting days ahead.