Outdoor Channel's board of directors has determined that a
$227 million last-minute offer to buy the network outright is superior to an
earlier deal with InterMedia Partners, telling the parent of the Sportsman
Channel that it has until March 12 to sweeten its bid.
Kroenke Sports, owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke, offered
$8.75 per share in cash for all outstanding Outdoor shares on Feb. 27, a
deal that appears to far outweigh InterMedia's
$208 million bid, which includes a mixture of cash ($8 per share) and stock
in a new publicly traded entity.
In a statement
March 7, Outdoor said that the Kroenke Sports deal, which has no financing
contingencies or other restrictions, "constitutes a superior proposal."
Outdoor has given InterMedia until March 12 to come up with
a better deal. If InterMedia does not best the KSE proposal by that time,
"Outdoor Channel expects to terminate the InterMedia Agreement and to enter
into the merger agreement with KSE," the company said.
