Quebecor asks court to forbid Osprey Media from accepting higher bid

Quebecor Inc. is asking the courts to forbid Osprey Media Income Fund from considering or dealing with takeover bids from anyone else. This is aimed directly at the Torstar-backed bid by Black Press Ltd. of Victoria to up the ante for the Osprey newspapers and magazines; it topped the Quebecor bid by $1 a unit. Quebecor's application will be heard -- and defended -- at the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on July 4.

Quebecor, which had at one point entered into an agreement with Torstar to carve up Osprey between them, says it believes that once Osprey accepted their bid at $7.25 a unit, they were at a standstill and unable to deal with anyone else (something that Osprey unitholders might disagree with when faced with an $8.25 offer from Black Press).

Osprey says its deal with Quebecor contains the customary provision that it could accept higher, unsolicited bids in certain circumstances. Clearly, Quebecor thinks this bid is not so much unsolicited as payback from the jilted Torstar (see earlier posts).