NZME seeks injunction against Stuff owner Nine Entertainment

NZME’s attempt to buy rival Stuff is headed to the High Court as it closes its horns with Australian owner Stuff in the midst of an increasingly bitter process.

NZME, owner of the NZ Herald, has petitioned the Auckland High Court for a provisional injunction against Nine Entertainment, which is on the ASX list, to enforce exclusive acquisition negotiations.

The move follows a statement exchange earlier this week after NZME submitted an urgent request from the Commerce Commission to buy Nine’s New Zealand media assets for a nominal amount of $ 1.

Nine responded with a statement saying the parties had withdrawn from the offer last week and had ended the talks.

READ MORE:
• NZME seeks urgent approval, help to buy things for $ 1 ‘to help save jobs, newspapers’
• NZME shareholders urge the breakup and vote on the acquisition of Stuff
• Law leader David Seymour says government should allow NZME and Stuff to merge
• Pattrick Smellie: Nine have told the government that Stuff has borrowed time?

NZME responded, saying it still had exclusivity and is now taking legal steps to enforce it.
A hearing on the provisional mandate is scheduled for tomorrow.

In a statement to the Herald, a NZME spokesperson said the company did not accept that the exclusivity had been validly terminated.

“NZME has filed a request for an injunction against Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Limited seeking orders to enforce this binding agreement between NZME and Nine on April 23, 2020.”

NZME has spent the better part of five years trying to buy things, but has previously been refused authorization by the Commerce Commission.

He says the media landscape has been so heavily affected by Covid-19 and foreign digital giants like Facebook and Google that he is the best owner to save newspaper and journalism jobs.

“NZME’s proposed acquisition of Stuff is important to the continued operation of a fourth solid state and a plurality of voice in this country,” NZME told NZX on Monday.

NZME and Stuff own the majority of New Zealand’s daily regional and metropolitan mastheads. In addition to the NZ Herald, NZME owns the Northern Advocate, Bay of Plenty Times, Hawke’s Bay Today, Rotorua Daily Post, and Whanganui Chronicle.

Stuff’s stable includes Sunday Star-Times, The Press in Christchurch and Dominion Post in Wellington.

In a letter to Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi on Monday, NZME President Peter Cullinane and CEO Michael Boggs said NZME fully respected the commission’s processes and “would see our request if possible.”

“The significant hurdle we face is that there is not enough time to do it, given the extraordinary conditions the industry finds itself in. We are aware of what happened to Bauer Media and we are focused on saving hundreds of jobs and regional headlines that can get lost if we don’t act with this urgency. Time is of the essence and we seek your urgent help to allow it to end before May 31, 2020. “

The Herald reported yesterday that the Commerce Commission was awaiting more information from NZME before publishing the new application.

“We are looking for more information from the applicant before we can register it,” said a spokesman for the Commerce Commission.

The Herald understands that Nine is not comfortable with publishing all of the content in the app.

NZME is urging the government to legislate to overturn the Commerce Commission’s original decision to reject a merger amid mounting pressure in the media industry.

The regulator ruled in 2017 that allowing companies to merge would lessen media plurality and focus too much power on a single organization.

However, the decision has long been controversial, as many critics say it did not emphasize digital technology companies (Facebook and Google) that compete for dollar advertising with media companies.