21 Sep Tegna confirms acquisition offers after report of bids from Apollo, Byron Allen

By Reuters Staff

Sept 21 (Reuters) – Tegna Inc confirmed on Tuesday it had received acquisition proposals and were being reviewed, after a report said private equity giant Apollo Global Management Inc and media entrepreneur Byron Allen had bid for the TV firm.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported here Allen had teamed up with Ares Management Corp to offer $23 per share for Tegna, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Apollo, along with co-bidder Standard General, also made an all-cash offer of nearly $22 a share for the media company, the report added.

As of June-end, Standard General is the fourth-largest shareholder of Tegna, with a 4.8% stake, according to data from Refinitiv.

The offers from Allen and Apollo would value Tegna at $5.1 billion and $4.9 billion respectively, according to Reuters calculations.

Apollo, Standard General and Ares Management did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Shares of the broadcaster were up 9.7% at $21.41 in afternoon trading.