Cox Enterprises begins cash tender offer for Cox Radio

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Cox Enterprises Inc said it launched a tender offer to acquire the 22 percent equity stake that it does not already own in Cox Radio Inc CXR.N for about $69.1 million in cash.

The offer of $3.80 a share represents a 15.2 percent premium over Cox Radio stock's Friday closing price, parent company Cox Enterprises said. However, Cox Radio shares jumped as much as 27 percent.

Separately, Cox Radio confirmed that an offer had been made by Cox Media Group Inc, a unit of Cox Enterprises.

Cox Radio said it would appoint a committee to review the tender offer and issue a formal statement to its shareholders within 10 business days. It advised shareholders to take no action at this time.

Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Marci Ryvicker said the parent company would probably have to revise the offer before the Cox Radio board would accept it.

"Given what happened with Hearst Corp's rejected tender offer for Hearst-Argyle Television Inc HTV.N in 2007, the transaction announced today is not a done deal," Ryvicker wrote in a note to clients.

Broadcaster and publisher Hearst Corp failed in its $600 million bid to buy the 27 percent of Hearst-Argyle Television that it did not already own, after a special committee of the target company's board determined the offer was inadequate.

Commercial broadcasters have been struggling with a global advertising downturn, and Cox Radio, which operates, acquires and develops radio stations, reported a fourth-quarter loss, hurt by charges and weakness in the advertising market.

Cox Enterprises, a communications, media and automotive services company, operates television, digital media and newspapers through its Cox Media Group.

"They are buying for the long term, expecting that advertising will someday return," said Joseph Bonner, an analyst with Argus Research Co.

Cox Enterprises said it would finance the transaction with cash on hand and from its existing credit facility.

The tender offer is set to expire on April 17. If Cox Enterprises owns 90 percent of Cox Radio's equity by then, Cox Radio will become its wholly owned unit. Cox Enterprises has a voting interest of about 97 percent in the target company.

Cox Enterprises said it has retained Citigroup as its financial adviser for the transaction and dealer manager for the tender offer.

Shares of Cox Radio closed up 25 percent at $4.12 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. They had touched a high of $4.19 earlier.

(Additional reporting by Eric Yep; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy and Deepak Kannan)