Television and radio group owner Fisher Broadcasting has been authorized by its Board of Directors to repurchase shares of common stock throughout 2013. Both open market and negotiated acquisitions are on the table.
Company management is cleared to reel back in up to $15M in shares. Fisher management is free to use its discretion on open market buys at prevailing rates and acquisition deals done off-market.
Fisher leader Colleen Brown stated, “We are pleased that our continued financial strength enables us to return capital to our shareholders. The Board’s approval of a share repurchase program for 2013, coupled with the over $92 million that we returned to Fisher shareholders in 2012 in the form of cash dividends and share repurchases, demonstrates this ongoing commitment. As we look ahead, we will continue to evaluate additional opportunities that we believe will deliver value to our investors.”
The program runs from Day 1 through Day 365 on 2013.
In a statement, Fisher described the parameters of the plan. “Fisher plans to conduct the program and retire the repurchased shares in a method that minimizes the likelihood that the ownership interest of any shareholder will increase through accretion to more than 30% of the Company’s outstanding common stock as a direct result of the repurchases. This is intended to ensure that all Fisher shareholders continue to have a voice in major Company decisions consistent with Fisher’s corporate charter and Washington law. Based on current publicly available information, Fisher’s largest shareholder owns approximately 29% of the Company’s outstanding shares.”
Fisher bought back almost 101K shares during 2012 for about $2.5M total.