P.M. BRIEFING : Australian Regains Network
- Share via
PERTH, Australia — Kerry Packer, Australia’s richest man, regained control of the country’s top-rating television network today without paying a cent.
Packer took back the Nine Network three years after selling it to beleaguered entrepreneur Alan Bond for $788 million.
Instead of paying cash, Packer will convert $158-million worth of debt still owed by the Bond Corp. into shares in network owner Bond Media Ltd.
The conversion formed part of a capital restructure approved by Bond Media’s minority shareholders today to give Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd. a 51.1% stake in the company.
Consolidated Press had launched legal action to liquidate Bond Media for failing to redeem preference shares.
An earlier $41-million takeover bid by Packer for Bond Media was withdrawn in April.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
The latest effort is coming from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. They just announced a $3 million program in conjunction with some nonprofits groups to test and clean the soil at homes still standing in the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire.
California once bet big on offshore wind to help power its clean-energy future, but the Trump administration is now paying developers billions to walk away from their projects. As California’s remaining offshore-wind leases hang in the balance, the state is fighting back in court.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
