Nexstar Media Group shares rocketed upward in the 10am hour Wednesday following the release of a Reuters report that suggests buyout firm Apollo Global Management has expressed interest in acquiring the company.
On very high volume of 3.44 million shares, NXST shares spiked to $86.50 from Tuesday’s close of $78.00 before cooling down a bit in midday activity. As of 2:15pm Eastern, Nexstar was trading at $82.28 — up $4.18 — and climbing.
Nexstar shares then cooled off in afternoon trading but still saw a $2.90 gain to $81.
That’s a record level for Nexstar, which has seen steady growth over the last five years and in early 2017 completed its merger with Media General.
According to Reuters, which cites “people familiar with the matter,” Apollo has joined P2 Capital Partners in approaching Nexstar, founded by Perry Sook (pictured).
P2 owns a small stake in Nexstar, Reuters notes; it is under 3.43%, as P2 is not shown among the top institutional holders of Nexstar by Yahoo! Finance. The top holders are comprised of Hound Partners (7.92%), The Vanguard Group (7.7%), and Neuberger Berman Group (7%).
Blackrock holds 6.1% interest in Nexstar.
What does this chatter mean? For Nexstar, it means hot activity on Wall Street — at least today.
“Nexstar has not yet engaged in sale talks and there is no certainty it will entertain an offer,” the sources told Reuters.
Reuters’ report comes one day after one Wall Street watcher emphatically gave Nexstar a thumbs’ up to investors. (Full details below, for subscribers only.)
