CBS Corporation and Entercom have both confirmed that CBS has formally launched an offer of an exchange of its stocks to the company’s shareholders. CBS shareholders now have until the evening of November 16, 2017 to exchange their Class B common stocks for shares of CBS Radio common stock. Once the merger closes, these shares become Entercom Class A common stock.
“We are very pleased to be taking this important step toward the split-off of our radio business in a way that we believe is good for CBS Radio, good for the CBS Corporation, and good for our shareholders,” said Leslie Moonves, Chairman/CEO of CBS Corporation, in a statement. “This exchange offer will give equity holders the opportunity to invest in what we believe will be a best-in-class radio company, with top assets and a terrific management team. And for CBS, we expect that it will unlock even more value and allow us to become even more focused on the creation and distribution of premium video content.”
On November 17, Entercom will hold its own special meeting of shareholders to approve the merger and possibly close the merger itself. In a filing with the SEC, Entercom essentially announced the same information.
Entercom CEO David Field said in the filing, “We couldn’t be more excited about the team we are building, the brands we will own, and the bold plans we have to enable the combined company to thrive in the future with big investments across many areas of our business to enhance our capabilities and firepower. Our merger still requires regulatory consent from various government agencies. We are continuing our work with those agencies and remain optimistic that we will receive their approvals in a timely manner and close our merger in the fourth quarter, possibly as early as November 17th, the day after the CBS exchange offer is scheduled to conclude.”
