Consolidated Media opens books to Murdoch group

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian publisher Consolidated Media Holdings (CMJ.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it has opened its books to a consortium backed by Lachlan Murdoch and Australian gaming magnate James Packer.

Murdoch, son of media tycoon Rupert, and Packer launched a joint A$3.3 billion ($3 billion) offer to buy out the Packer-backed company last month.

Consolidated said it would allow the consortium four weeks for due diligence, adding that granting access to the data room did not mean it was backing the consortium's proposal.

Consolidated's shares were up 0.2 percent at A$4.52, around 6 percent below the indicative price offered by the Murdoch/Packer group of A$4.80.

The consortium's bid already has the blessing of Consolidated's biggest shareholder, the James Packer-backed Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH).

Consolidated Media owns 25 percent of pay-TV provider Foxtel, about 27 percent of on-line job site Seek Ltd (SEK.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and 25 percent of PBL Media.

The Consolidated deal would mark Lachlan's first big business move since quitting his father's business in 2005, and is the second major effort by the two rival media empires to forge a venture, after backing One.Tel, a telecommunications company that collapsed in 2001 owing A$600 million.

Murdoch and Packer, son of the late Kerry Packer -- one of Australia's best known businessmen, said they had been "profoundly misled" about One.Tel's financial situation.

($1=A$1.10)

(Reporting by Jonathan Standing and Ben Wilson)