2023-03-28 09:29:45 ET
Standard General has headed to court to help salvage a struggling $5.4B deal for Tegna ( NYSE: TGNA ), filing suit against the Federal Communications Commission to try to surpass a "pocket veto" of the transaction.
The FCC said a month ago that it would send the transaction to an administrative law judge , often a kiss of death for acquisition deals.
Now Standard General is suing the agency in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, seeking an order to the FCC to "stop its unprecedented treatment of Standard General’s acquisition of broadcast company Tegna, a deal which would create the largest minority-owned and female-led broadcasting company in U.S. history."
"This deal should never have become controversial in the first place," Standard General argues, saying the deal conforms to rules and precedents and "does not constitute consolidation -- in fact, it is making Tegna, an existing group of stations, smaller."
The FCC's Media Bureau gave the deal "unprecedented -- and unfounded -- scrutiny," the firm continues, saying the agency declined offers to meet and far outpaced a typical 180-day "shot clock" for such deal reviews.
Tegna stock ( TGNA ) was up 0.9% premarket.
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Standard General sues FCC in attempt to save Tegna deal