APN nabs Sir John Anderson to chair NZ listing vehicle

APN News & Media [ASX:APN] has appointed Sir John Anderson as chairman of a potential listing vehicle for its New Zealand subsidiary ahead of a likely initial public offering (IPO).

Sir John has been named chairman designate for a new company to house the recently rebranded NZME business, which includes publishing assets such as the NZ Herald, and radio, digital and e-commerce assets including GrabOne.

APN chairman Peter Cosgrove says Sir John was approached to join the board as part of an ongoing consideration of an IPO. His appointment is subject to confirmation the stock exchange listing will go ahead.

In a statement he also confirmed NZME has finished a programme of presentations to banks as part of the proposed IPO process and it will be commencing a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) in the near future (see NBR ONLINE’s earlier story on this here).

Advisor Grant Samuel and law firm Chapman Tripp are already working on bringing the New Zealand assets to market. While APN has mentioned a trade sale as one possibility, a sell down of its ownership via an IPO seems ever more likely now.

Mr Cosgrove says Sir John is one of the country’s most experienced directors and has been involved in market leading and high profile organisations both here and in Australia.

Sir John is currently chairman of Steel & Tube Holdings, NPT Ltd, deputy chair of Turners & Growers and a director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 

Past chairmanships include the NZ Venture Investment Fund, Television New Zealand and PGG Wrightson.  He was chief executive and director of ANZ National Bank from 2003 to 2005 and National Bank of NZ from 1989 to 2003.

NZME recently posted an 8% decline in first-half revenue to $A201.6 million, and a 9% fall in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $A34.6 million, reflecting the sale of South Island and Wellington newspapers and several magazine titles, including the weekly New Zealand Listener magazine, to Germany's Bauer Media.

The accounts show NZME has a total book value of A$282.2 million ($315 million).