Definately worth a punt, if the deal comes off you make 50%...and if it doesnt AUN has been trading roughly around the dollar mark for the last 5 years so loss is minimal
MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--The chief executive of Australian pay television company Foxtel is confident the company will be able to address concerns raised by Australia's consumer watchdog over its 1.9 billion Australian dollar (US$1.95 billion) bid for fellow pay television company Austar United Communications Ltd. (AUN.AU).
Foxtel's bid for Austar hit a hurdle last month when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a statement of issues saying the deal "is likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition" in the pay-TV services market, the market for TV content, and several markets for telecommunications products in Australia.
Kim Williams told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview on Thursday that Foxtel had worked on an "exhaustive" submission to address issues raised by the ACCC about the proposed takeover.
"I remain confident the transaction is one that passes the tests," he said. "We wouldn't have gone into a transaction over such a long period of time and invested so much time, effort and money if we were not confident."
The deal, which has the backing of Austar's biggest shareholder, Liberty Global (LBTYA), is subject to several conditions, including approval from the ACCC.
Foxtel is Australia's leading pay television company with more than 1.65 million homes connected. The company is 50% owned by Australian telecommunications giant Telstra Corp. (TLS) and 25% each by Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd. (CMJ.AU) and News Corp.(NWS), the owner of this newswire.
The ACCC has proposed announcing its findings on the deal on September 8.
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