As the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic escalates, Tysons-based Tegna announced that two offers to acquire the Gannett spinoff company have fallen through.
“TEGNA and its advisors engaged substantially with two of these parties and provided them extensive non-public due diligence information,” the company wrote in a statement over the weekend. “These two parties made their proposals shortly before the recent market dislocation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and both subsequently informed TEGNA that they were ceasing discussions.”
Tegna had received four unsolicited acquisition offers, three of which were reportedly worth about $8.5 billion apiece. The two leading offers reportedly were a joint proposal from investment firm The Najafi Cos. and religious broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network; and an offer from TV producer Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group. The other bidders were private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. and Gray Television Inc.
