Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Australia's Macquarie Media acquires US publications for 159.5 mln usd

Australia's Macquarie Media Group said Wednesday its wholly owned US unit, American Consolidated Media LLC, has agreed to acquire, in separate transactions, 22 publishing assets from Chesapeake Publishing Corp and 11 publications from the Brown Publishing Company.

The listed Macquarie Group unit said the acquisitions have a combined enterprise value of 159.5 million US dollars, representing an enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) multiple of 10.3 times based on the calendar 2006 EBITDA of 15.5 million US dollars.

The acquisition of the Brown publications is expected to be completed in early December with Chesapeake to be completed by early January, it said.

Chesapeake publishes 22 local publications across two contiguous regions on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay region, principally in Maryland. Brown publishes 11 local publications serving seven isolated rural markets in Southern Ohio.

Both businesses publish in markets that are characterised by sustained long-term income growth, which is above the US national average, Macquarie Media chief executive Mark Dorney said.

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