Holmes a Court Buying 11 Fairfax Media Properties

Investor Robert Holmes a Court acquired three newspapers--including the Australian national business daily--and eight radio stations Monday from John Fairfax Ltd., which agreed to be taken private by a member of the Fairfax family.

Holmes a Court acquired the properties for an undisclosed price. However, a source close to the negotiations said he paid about $340.6 million for the newspapers and the radio stations.

Fairfax, Australia’s second-largest media company, sold the properties as part of a restructuring resulting from a takeover fight that involved family member Warwick Fairfax, Holmes a Court and Australian publisher and financier Kerry Packer.

Under the deal, Holmes a Court is buying the Australian Financial Review, National Business Review of New Zealand, Australia’s Times on Sunday and the eight-station MacQuarie radio network in Australia.

Packer will buy John Fairfax’s magazine division, the Canberra Times and the Canberra Chronicle.

John Fairfax agreed last week to acquire the American magazine Ms. The future of that agreement was not immediately clear now that Fairfax has sold its magazine holdings.

Several smaller publications and a radio station also were sold to the family of company Deputy Chairman John B. Fairfax.

Warwick Fairfax announced Monday that he had raised his takeover bid to about $1.62 billion for John Fairfax shares he did not already control.

Under his proposal, Warwick Fairfax receives total ownership of the Sydney Morning Herald and other assets, while certain publications were to be spun off and relisted on the Sydney Stock Exchange under the name David Syme & Co.

Warwick Fairfax said his bid for John Fairfax is conditioned on his company, Tryart Proprietary Ltd., obtaining at least 75% of the outstanding shares in the John Fairfax organization.

James Fairfax, chairman of John Fairfax, and John B. Fairfax, the deputy chairman, said they would accept Warwick Fairfax’s bid for their shares as long as no higher offer was made.

Both men opposed the takeover bid when it was first made at the end of August.

Warwick Fairfax made his original bid in response to stock purchases by Holmes a Court and said the offer was aimed at protecting the company from a possible hostile takeover.

After Warwick Fairfax’s initial offer, Packer stepped in and bought John Fairfax shares.

Holmes a Court now owns about 9% of Fairfax, while Packer holds about 4%. Various members of the Fairfax family own a total of about 51%, with Warwick Fairfax entitled to about 25%.