What's going to happen next in the planned "takeover" of ITV by a consortium of private equity groups? It depends on which paper you read.
According to The Sunday Times, |ITV chief executive Charles Allen will keep his £2m a-year salary if shareholders reject a revised offer for 48% of the company from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Apax and they in turn abandon the bid.
The revised offer involves some cash element, says the paper, but it needs the approval of the ITV board. If they don't get it. then the prospect of a hostile bid looks slim, it reports.
"There is a very real chance they will walk away - it's very difficult for them to make the numbers work," one source tells the Independent.
The consortium is proposing to gear-up ITV with £2.8bn additional debt so it can return £3.5bn to shareholders, then itself invest £1.3bn for a 48% controlling share.
But signs of tension in the consortium, it reports don't auger well for the deal, which is still facing the issue of what to do with those shareholders who don't want to stay part of the heavily indebted company.
The consortium faces a possible £1.4bn underwriting bill to acquire the rest of ITV's shares if investors decide they want to exit ITV, reports The Telegraph, adding that a dream team of former BBC director general Greg Dyke, former BBC head of sport Peter Salmon and current BBC commercial chief John Smith, is unlikely to win its prize.
The Guardian meanwhile suggests the buyout trio are investigating a cash alternative as one possible counter to last week's rejection of the offer by ITV - key sticking point an exit and associated premium for shareholders.
Meanwhile on ITV's own website, nothing since last week's city announcement rejecting the deal. Maybe it's just not a big enough story.
