Nexstar Broadcasting Group said that it has reached an impasse in its negotiations to buy Media General.
Media General rejected an offer that Nexstar values at $16.31 per Media General share.
Nexstar made an unsolicited bid for Media General after Media General announced plans to merge with Meredith Corp. Some large Media General shareholders opposed that proposal because they didn't want to own Meredith's print assets.
"Despite strong support from Media General shareholders for our past proposals, we have reached an impasse in our negotiations to acquire Media General as their Board has again rejected our very compelling offer and responded with an unrealistic counter proposal," said Perry Sook, chairman, president and CEO of Nexstar.
"The response from Media General is disappointing as our revised offer reflects our recent confirmation of our projections for first year synergies and our continued focus on structuring a transaction that would enable the combined company to generate prodigious free cash flow that would be allocated for leverage reduction, additional strategic investments and the return of capital to shareholders," Sook said.
Nexstar described Media General's counter proposal as consisting of $11.00 per share in cash, an exchange ratio of 0.135 Nexstar shares per Media General share and a contingent value right. Excluding the value of the CVR, the current value of Media General's counter proposal is $18.61 per Media General share, representing a premium of approximately 66.9% over Media General's closing share price on Sept. 25, Nexstar said.
