Rothermere Family in Talks to Take Daily Mail Private

(Bloomberg) -- The Rothermere family is weighing a plan that would break up the owner of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper and potentially take it private following an approach for the company’s insurance and risk division.

After selling the RMS unit and paying a special dividend, the family’s Rothermere Continuation Ltd. would pay 251 pence for each remaining share of Daily Mail & General Trust Plc, the London-based company said in a statement Monday. That implies an enterprise value of 810 million pounds ($1.1 billion), with DMGT assuming 230 million pounds in debt.

The resulting company would be dominated by its newspaper and online news business, which also runs the Metro and i newspapers, as well as smaller units in events, property information, and a venture portfolio. If the possible offer for RMS is declared unconditional, DMGT would also pay a special dividend valued at about 610 pence per share, including its shares in online auto-marketplace startup Cazoo.

Shares rose 4.2% to 1,084 pence in London at 8:21 a.m. after earlier jumping as much as 10.2%. The shares have risen about 46% this year, giving the company a market value of 2.5 billion pounds.

DMGT’s independent directors have told the Rothermeres the plan “will represent attractive value” for the company’s shareholders and they’d be inclined to recommend it if a firm offer was made.

Jonathan Harmsworth, known as Lord Rothermere, chairs DMGT and his family’s trust owns all of DMGT’s voting shares and about 30% of the company’s overall stock. The paper was founded by the family in 1896 according to DMGT’s website.

DMGT’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Zwillenberg has spent recent years selling off several large parts of the holding, including an agreement to offload its education technology business Hobsons in March for about $410 million.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.