By Gavin Lower
MELBOURNE--Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd. (CMJ.AU) said
Tuesday it expects News Corp.'s (NWS) 1.97 billion Australian
dollar (US$2.06 billion) takeover bid to be completed in the fourth
quarter of 2012, subject to shareholder and court approvals, as it
reported a 2.4% increase in net profit for the fiscal year.
The media investment company said net profit for the year to
June 30 was A$97.9 million, up from the previous year's A$94.8
million.
The company, which owns 25% of Australia's leading pay
television company Foxtel, said in a statement that while a number
of pre-conditions to News Corp.'s bid for Consolidated Media
remained outstanding, it expects those pre-conditions to be
satisfied and that the Scheme Implementation Deed would be finally
negotiated and signed "during the next six weeks."
But the company also said it could not give an assurance that
the proposed deal would go ahead. The company said it will pay a
final dividend of 6 Australian cents a share, the same as last
year.
News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.
Write to Gavin Lower at gavin.lower@wsj.com
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