P.M. BRIEFING : Fairfax Group in Receivership
John Fairfax Group Proprietary Ltd., which owns the Sydney Morning Herald and three other major Australian publications, was placed into receivership today after banks called in outstanding debts.
The company, one of Australia’s two major newspaper groups along with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Ltd., owes about $1.31 billion.
Company officials said directors asked for the appointment of a provisional liquidator for the group’s finance division after banks refused to agree to a roll-over of a debt of $654 million.
The Deloitte Ross Tohmatsu accountancy firm was then appointed receiver and manager at the request of John Fairfax Group’s banking syndicate.
John Fairfax, Australia’s oldest media organization, also owns the Australian Financial Review, Business Review Weekly and The (Melbourne) Age as well as the Herald in Sydney. The Herald is the oldest English-language newspaper in the world continuously owned by the same family.
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