Leading local station owner Nexstar Media Group and smaller rival Tegna have unveiled a definitive agreement for a merger.

As part of the deal, Nexstar will acquire all outstanding shares of Tegna each for $22.00 in cash, which values the transaction at $6.2 billion. Tegna’s board of directors has approved the merger and the company’s debt will refinanced or closed at the completion of the merger agreement. Sinclair had also been looking at a deal for Tegna.

Nexstar has financing in place from a consortium of Wall Street investment banks to finance the transaction. The merger deal is seen as a test for the FCC to loosen local TV station ownership rules as it gets set to rule on the Nexstar-Tegna agreement.

Leading local station owner Nexstar Media Group and smaller rival Tegna h

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