Daily Mail and General Trust (LSE:DMGT) PLC is close to reaching an agreement with the trustees of its three pension schemes over the potential privatisation of the company.
Responding to press speculation, the trust (DMGT) said the last of the non-waivable pre-conditions that remains outstanding relates to reaching a position with the trustees of DMGT's three pension schemes which is reasonably satisfactory to DMGT and Rothermere Continuation Limited (RCL), the controlling shareholder of DMGT.
DMGT said the deal with the trustees includes, among other terms, payment into the pension schemes of roughly £400 million.
READ Daily Mail set to go private as Rothermere unwinds DMGT
RCL, a vehicle of Lord Rothermere and his family, who are the ultimate owners of DMGT, has already cleared the decks for the company to be taken private by selling its insurance risk business RMS. It has indicated it will make an offer worth £810mln or 251p per share for what’s left of DMGT including debt.