Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Mission Broadcasting have
agreed to acquire Communications Corp. of America (CCA) and White Knight
Broadcasting for $270 million. The deal involves 19 TV stations.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is
expected to close early in the fourth quarter. Under the terms of the
agreements, Nexstar will acquire 11 of the CCA stations and will enter into
services agreements with certain identified parties, including Mission, which
is acquiring eight.
The stations headed to Nexstar are "geographically
complementary to Nexstar's operating base while also presenting significant
financial and operating synergies with the company's existing portfolio,"
Nexstar said in a statement. Upon closing, the proposed acquisition would
increase Nexstar's portfolio of stations that it owns, operates, provides
services to or programs to 91 stations in 48 markets, reaching around 13.9% of
U.S. television households.
"The transaction highlights Nexstar's role in the industry
as a leading consolidator of stations in mid-sized markets through accretive
transactions," said Perry Sook, Nexstar president and CEO. "The
acquisition significantly expands our revenue and operating base with stations
where we can quickly apply our operating and management disciplines to
meaningfully improve their performance which we believe will result in
significant free cash flow accretion immediately upon closing. The addition of
the CCA stations builds further scale and operating leverage and represents
another excellent opportunity for Nexstar to expand our footprint and portfolio
in attractive and highly complementary markets."
The stations include WEVV Evansville, KADN Lafayette (La.)
and WVLA Baton Rouge.
Both CCA and White Knight are based in Lafayette.
"Nexstar is a premier TV broadcasting
company that has grown in a disciplined fashion. We are pleased that the CCA
stations will become part of Nexstar's expanded footprint, giving them the
benefits of increased scale to build on the momentum we have created over the
past several years," said Peter Markham, chairman of CCA. "As part of
the Nexstar portfolio, we believe that our stations will be positioned
extremely well for future growth which should benefit our team members, customers
and the communities we serve."
