As the largest investor in Fisher Communications, Mario Gabelli has stayed officially neutral on the bid by Huntingdon REIT to buy him out and all other shareholders at $23.99 per share. But Gabelli was on CNBC Monday (2/14) talking enthusiastically about the break-up value of Fisher.
“Fisher has been the subject of romance for a while,” Gabelli said on the Valentine’s Day-themed business report. “A group out of Canada is trying to say, hey you’ve got a land value in your data center – and data centers are hot. You notice that Time Warner’s buying one. Verizon’s buying one, Terremark, and so on,” he said in discussing the attraction of the company’s Fisher Plaza property in Seattle.
“It’s more than TV stations and radio stations. They’ve got three wonderful radio stations. We think the company’s worth $35-40,” said Gabelli, whose mutual funds own 27.8% of Fisher’s stock.
“Super Mario’s” comments on Fisher begin at 4:27 of the 8:01 clip below.
RBR-TVBR observation: Sounds to us like Mario is willing to sell, but not at the price being offered by Huntingdon REIT. So, will he push for an auction of the entire company or for it to be sold off in pieces? It seems likely that there would be different pools of buyers interested in the broadcast properties and in Fisher Plaza.
Check out RBR-TVBR’s previous reporting on this battle for Fisher.
Huntingdon bids to buy Fisher Communications
Fisher’s board fires back
RBR-TVBR’s exclusive analysis of Fisher’s value
Huntingdon to nominate rival candidates for the Fisher board
Mario Gabelli weighs in with a letter to Fisher CEO Colleen Brown
