Billionaire Gina Rinehart has held discussions about buying Australian Community Media, the regional newspaper and media outfit owned by Alex Waislitz and Anthony Catalano.
The potential move, described as preliminary by sources and one that has so far been rebuffed, is the latest sign of Mrs Rinehart’s growing interest in the media sector.
The Australian understands representatives of Mrs Rinehart and her Hancock Prospecting held talks with ACM owners in recent months, though the discussions have so far not progressed further.
ACM has been owned since 2019 by billionaire investor Mr Waislitz and his business partner, Mr Catalano, who was charged with eight criminal offences relating to his alleged assault of his wife, Stefanie Catalano, in Melbourne in March.
ACM’s assets include newspapers such as The Canberra Times, Illawarra Mercury and Newcastle Herald.
Mr Waislitz and Mr Catalano, who has stepped down as a director of the holding company that owns their media assets, also have a 30 per cent shareholding in View Media Group, real estate assets and interests in a number of companies that are leveraging ACM’s audience reach and real estate media exposures.
The duo also owns a 7.53 per cent stake in the ASX-listed Southern Cross Media, now the owner of the Seven television network and Western Australian Newspapers, which counts billionaire Kerry Stokes as its biggest shareholder.
Southern Cross Media’s second biggest shareholder is now former Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam, who has spent $26m on Southern Cross shares in the past two months – a spending spree funded by Mrs Rinehart and entities connected to the mining magnate.
Mrs Rinehart’s spokesman would not comment when approached by The Australian.
In response to questions, Mr Waislitz said: “In recent times we have been approached by interested parties but we are more than happy to hold and continue to support the business.”
He said the ACM investment has “proven to be excellent” in the past seven years, and while traditional media had its challenges, Mr Waislitz said ACM had consistently performed under the leadership of managing director Tony Kendall and his management team.
“ACM is Australia’s leading regional and rural digital media company that services over 5.3 million people on a monthly basis,” Mr Waislitz said in a statement.
“It is also the largest employer of journalists in regional and rural Australia and enjoys a position of trust with both its readers and advertisers.
Mr Waislitz backed Mr McWilliam’s shareholding in Southern Cross Media, and the latter’s potential tilt for a board role – and even the chairmanship – at the company.
Mr McWilliam is likely to seek up to 20 per cent of Southern Cross Media’s shares, a strategy that would likely be funded by Mrs Rinehart.
Ranked No 1 on this year’s edition of The List – Australia’s Richest 250 when it was published by The Australian in March, Mrs Rinehart has most of her estimated $41.66bn fortune held in iron ore mining assets owned by Hancock Prospecting.
Hancock also has a $5bn share portfolio, comprising mostly mining stocks but also with some media investments.
There is an almost $100m holding in Fox Corp, the owner of the Fox News cable network and Fox Sports networks in the US, and Hancock Prospecting also owns shares in the Nasdaq-listed Trump Media & Technology Group.
Other holdings include Tesla, Nvidia, Microsoft, Netflix, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon.
Hancock, which is majority owned and run by Mrs Rinehart, has also been buying US defence and weapons-making stocks this year.
She has previously been a major shareholder in Fairfax Media – sources say she once considered forming a consortium to buy The Age newspaper – and then Network Ten in Australia.
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