Cumulus Media Topic of $1.2B Acquisition Bid by Jeff Warshaw-Led Consortium

A consortium of traders led by veteran radio trade govt Jeff Warshaw has made an unsolicited $1.2 billion bid to purchase Cumulus Media, the radio community that owns and operates 406 radio stations, the Westwood One syndication operation and a digital radio platform.

In line with press reviews, Warshaw’s consortium is prepared to pay $15-$17 a share for Cumulus and will go even increased if due diligence of the corporate’s financials justifies an elevated valuation. Apart from Warshaw, the opposite members of the investor consortium haven’t been disclosed. The information was first reported by Reuters.

Warshaw is the founder and CEO of Connoisseur Media, which owns and operates 13 radio stations that broadcast in Connecticut, Maryland and Lengthy Island, in response to the corporate’s web site. In 2020, he additionally launched a SPAC — a clean test company dubbed Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. that acquired a minority stake in Wejo, a Manchester, U.Okay.-based firm described as a related automobile firm in press reviews.

Cumulus, which is at the moment led by president and CEO Mary Berner, has issued a press release saying it’s reviewing the provide. The corporate’s annual assembly is scheduled for Could and its present board of administrators is up for renewal, with the corporate urging that all of them be voted in once more, in response to its proxy assertion on file with the U.S. Securities and Change Fee.

Cumulus shares closed on April 14 at $14.21 on information of the bid, up 39.9% from the day past’s shut of $10.16, in response to Yahoo! Finance. Since then, NASDAQ has apparently halted buying and selling within the inventory on account of its volatility.

With 20,625,542 shares of Cumulus widespread inventory excellent, the April 14 closing value provides the corporate a market capitalization of $293.1 million, a rise in valuation of $84 million from the prior day’s market capitalization of $209.1 million. The opposite $900 million from the $1.2 billion provide would doubtless be used to retire present debt — a $353.84 million time period mortgage and $445.1 million in debentures, as of Dec. 31, 2021, in response to Cumulus’ 10-Okay submitting with the SEC.

In 2021, Cumulus Media reported $17.3 million in internet revenue, or 83 cents per diluted share, on revenues of $916.5 million. That represented a turnaround from a prior-year lack of $59.7 million, whereas revenues elevated 12.2% from $816.2 million.