Supreme Court clears last hurdle for Seven West Media and Southern Cross Austereo to merge

The NSW Supreme Court has cleared the way for the SWM-SCA merger to go ahead.

Justice Black’s orders, made today in the merger case, are as follows:

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1 Pursuant to paragraph 411(4)(b) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act), the scheme of arrangement between the Plaintiff and holders of fully paid ordinary shares in the Plaintiff (other than certain excluded shareholders), in the form set out in Annexure 3 to Exhibit 1 in this proceeding (Scheme), be approved.

2 Pursuant to subsection 411(12) of the Corporations Act, the Plaintiff be exempt from compliance with subsection 411(11) of the Corporations Act in relation to the Scheme.

3 These orders be entered forthwith.

In an earlier judgement, Justic Black said: “I am satisfied that there is nothing in the terms of the scheme or in its effect on scheme shareholders that would warrant the Court declining to approve the scheme at the second Court hearing, if it receives the statutory majorities required by s 411(4)(a)(ii) of the Act at the scheme meeting.”

Details of the previous judgement are available here.

Yesterday, SWM shareholders voted overwhelmingly to accept the merger proposal. The new merged entity is expected to list on the stock exchange in early January.

Seven West Media has suspended trading on the stock exchange until the new company entity is finalised. New Southern Cross shares trading will begin on 8 January 2026.

Previous report:

Seven West Media’s merger scheme approved by shareholders