Acting in Earnest

The situation has become an all too familiar one.  The station has been on the market for the last five years.  Few offers have come in and none of those could be thought of as being remotely attractive or credible.  In some cases, the proposed purchase price was laughably low.  In other cases, the purchase price was attractive, but the buyer’s financing was suspect.  The buyer even wanted the seller to finance a large portion of the deal by issuing seller paper.  Finally, however, the seller receives an attractive offer.  The proposed purchase price is a good one.  The buyer supposedly has its financing in place.  Nevertheless, the seller has a lingering doubt about the buyer.  The buyer has no track record of closing broadcast deals.  In fact, the buyer – having made most of its money in real estate transactions – is new to the broadcast industry.  Given the length of time that the station has been on the market and the attractiveness of the proposed purchase price, however, the seller wants to explore the opportunity and see if the buyer’s proposal is for real.