AVCJ

Australia's Ten Network chairman to step down after abortive Hellman & Friedman MBO: reports

  • Paul Mackintosh
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Nick Falloon, the executive chairman of Australia's Ten Network, has offered to step down following a share raid by James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch that secured 18% of the company in the wake of a rumored privatization plan by Falloon and US PE firm Hellman & Friedman, according to reports in the Australian press.

Hellman & Friedman chairman Brian Powers, a longtime associate of Falloon who worked under him at CVC-invested Channel Nine, according to AVCJ sources, was in Australia to lead the deal, prompting the move by local media barons Packer and Murdoch, said the reports. Parent Ten Holdings has now offered Packer and Murdoch two Board seats. “The Board looks forward to James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch also agreeing to join the Board as previously offered,” Falloon said publicly.

Speculation has also surfaced that Falloon and H&F might now try a secondary buyout bid for CVC Capital Partners investee PBL Media, following the latter's denial of plans to seek an IPO. H&F's Powers formerly served as MD and CEO of both Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings and Murdoch's PBL. However, AVCJ sources indicated that Ten would be a far more attractive asset than PBL for any acquirer.

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