Fairfax shareholders will vote as planned on the proposed merger with Nine Entertainment after the Fairfax board said it could not consider an 11th-hour bid to save the company name.

The former chief executive of majority Fairfax-owned real estate site Domain, Antony Catalano, had asked in a letter for Monday’s shareholder meeting to be adjourned for two weeks so his late proposal could be heard.

But Fairfax said on Monday this will not happen.

“The letter contains no actual proposal that could be considered by Fairfax shareholders as an alternative to the proposed scheme of arrangement with Nine,” Fairfax said in a statement to the ASX.

“The letter from Mr Catalano does not constitute a superior proposal under the terms of the scheme implementation agreement between Fairfax and Nine, and therefore the Fairfax board is unable to consider it in any event.”

The Fairfax board met on Monday morning and will proceed with the shareholders’ meeting as planned.

The board has unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favour of the scheme. Catalano wanted to block the merger by buying up to 19.9% of Fairfax.

The merger would leave Australia with four major media players instead of five, with Nine adding newspapers such as The Age, The Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald to its free-to-air TV network.

The deal would also give the new business Fairfax’s majority stake in Domain, streaming service Stan, and a 54.5 per cent stake in the Macquarie Media radio network.

The merger was initially flagged in July, with the competition watchdog already giving the green light this month after finding it would not substantially diminish competition in Australian news and media.

The deal would face a final court approval on 27 November.



