Australia to Fight Maxwell on Bid for Newspaper Stake

Australian Treasurer Paul Keating said Monday that his government would object to British publisher Robert Maxwell’s plans to take a 49% stake in the West Australian Newspaper.

Maxwell plans to buy the holding from troubled Australian financier Alan Bond’s Bell Group Ltd. for the equivalent of about $192.5 million.

It amounts to a controlling interest, which would run counter to the country’s laws on foreign press ownership, Keating said at a London news conference.

Keating said the Australian government has “always taken a very strict view of newspaper ownership” and would not agree to the sale as it now stands.

Keating defined as “controlling” anything above a 25% interest. He declined to comment further.

“I am puzzled by Mr. Keating’s alleged remarks at the press conference in London today, stating that Australian law prohibits foreign ownership of newspapers with an excess of 25%,” Maxwell said Monday night. “To my knowledge no such legislation exists in Australia.”

Maxwell added that it was “injudicious” of Keating to comment before receiving Mirror Group Newspapers’ application.

Two years ago, the Australian government rejected a Maxwell bid for the Melbourne Age.

Under the deal announced earlier Monday, Maxwell was planning to take a 49% stake in the West Australian through his Mirror Group PLC.

Bell, which also holds 49% of the Perth Daily News and several suburban newspapers, was to retain a 50% share, while an unidentified “distinguished Australian citizen” was to hold the remaining 1%.

Maxwell already holds a 14.9% interest in Bell, though the completion of the purchase is still pending a legal challenge by Australia’s National Companies and Securities Commission.