Consortium Preps Rival Bid for Canwest

TORONTO: Catalyst Capital Group is leading a consortium that plans to offer up C$120 million for 32 percent of Canwest Global Communications, a week after Shaw Communications announced a deal to take control of the Canadian broadcasting group, according to local reports.

The Globe and Mail reports that the private equity firm’s offer is being backed by the Asper family and Goldman Sachs, as well as two former Rogers executives, John Tory and Rael Merson. Goldman Sachs co-owns with Canwest the suite of specialty networks acquired from Alliance Atlantis in 2007.

Last week, cable operator Shaw Communications announced that it had reached a deal for a minimum 20-percent equity interest and 80-percent voting interest in the restructured Canwest once it emerges from creditor protection. The restructuring, announcing in October, leaves Canwest Global as a pure-play broadcasting company, independent from Canwest’s newspaper assets.