Accretive Large Market Consolodation

[JustPastBuffalo]

Townsquare Media is acquiring the Cumulus clusters in Augusta-Waterville (Maine), Bangor, Binghamton, Bismarck, Grand Junction, Killeen-Temple, New Bedford, Odessa-Midland, Presque Isle, Sioux Falls and Tuscaloosa. Cumulus gains the Townsquare Media clusters in Bloomington, Illinois and Peoria, and there's $116 million in cash involved, as well.

Townsquare's Steven Price says "this transaction represents a continued investment in the local media business in small and mid-sized markets." Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey says the deal "represents strategic portfolio management which enables us to focus on accretive large market consolidation as well as further de-leveraging of our balance sheet." More now at Radio-Info.com.

Cutting Binghamton comes as a mild surprise given the Upstate NY synergy of Syracuse and Buffalo. The question now is, where has the de-leveraging line been drawn?

 

[TheBigA]

The question now is, where has the de-leveraging line been drawn?

The line is apparently about market size, not geography. Interesting that Townsquare is going for smaller markets.

Probably just easier for Cumulus than doing individual deals.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Townsquare is mostly about smaller markets. Isn't Buffalo their biggest market? Kind of makes you wonder what might happen here if CC or somebody else decided that they wanted in. I don't really expect that to happen. I'm sure that the big boys would be more interested in spending money in a growing market, not a shrinking one.

I'm a little surprised the Erie wasn't part of the deal as well. Seems like that would be a fit for Townsquare. Maybe they're not keen on going up against Connoisseur Media, another small-market specialist. Overall, small-to-mid markets weathered the recent recession better than most major markets and major players. Townsquare seems to like that niche.