“Something’s fishy. There is a reluctance to share pertinent information with shareholders and that seems fishy to me. This transaction doesn’t seem to be a good one and there needs to be more forthcoming disclosure.” Those words were said by Chairman of local finance house Mayberry Investments, Christopher Berry when speaking at the Radio Jamaica Annual General Meeting last September.. Berry, like the shareholders of Radio Jamaica, said he was concerned that the Gleaner/RJR Merger will, in the end, prove more beneficial for Gleaner shareholders than those of RJR.

According to Berry, Radio Jamaica has not only failed to keep its shareholders up to date on the details of the merger, but it has also failed to prove that the announced merger will be as beneficial to RJR shareholders as it is to shareholders from the Gleaner Company. Asking questions at the recently held AGM, Berry said that when the deal was announced on August 5th, 2015, it was expected that further details would be unveiled 10 days later. However, he says now that it is the middle of September, shareholders are yet to be furnished with critical information on what will be the largest media entity in Jamaica. The Mayberry Chairman says if one looks at The Gleaner’s latest financial results, its media businesses have posted losses whereas RJR’s has recorded good profits yet the merger sees a 50/50 stock swap.

Gleaner/ RJR Merger
In August of Last year, the Gleaner Company Limited and Radio Jamaica announced their decision to join forces. Chairman of The Gleaner Company Oliver Clarke said the merger follows what he describes as unfavorable local economic conditions. He says independent news cannot be provided unless the move is viable. ‘What Jamaica faces is that there are a number of foreign companies coming in and putting up programmes that solicit advertising and you have a lot of businesses that are not making their way’.

The transaction is a stock for stock deal where Radio Jamaica Limited will issue and exchange 1.2 billion shares on a one for one basis to shareholders of the Gleaner Company Limited for 100 percent of a newly formed subsidiary Gleaner Company (Media) Limited which will hold the assets of the media entities of the Gleaner Company………

This story was published in the September 21, 2015 issue of Businessuite Magazine. Click here to read more.

The above story is the first of several stories published by Businessuite Magazine following the initial announcement of the merger of the Gleaner and Radio Jamaica.