Daily Mail owner goes private following Rothermere’s triumphant push
Daily Mail owner Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) exited the London market this morning, following a successful privatisation push by the Rothermere family.
DMGT officially delisted and cancelled trading from the London Stock Exchange, ending its 90 year history.
The Rothermere investment vehicle, who already controlled all of the ordinary shares in the company, agreed to de-list DMGT in November after the sale of the group’s insurance business, as well as a listing of the online car seller Cazoo, which it partly owned.
During this period, there had been some criticism of the offer, with the suggestion that DMGT had been undervalued considering its ownership of many of the UK’s most-read titles, including the Metro and the i.
In a grand push for privatisation, Viscount Rothermere, great grandson of the Daily Mail founder, increased the cash component of their offer to buy out other shareholders to 270p per share, and shifted their bid from £850m to £871m in early December.
The DMGT shares collapsed by more than 70 per cent in late December, ahead of delisting.