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Will the NeST-UM deal go through?

As late as this morning, Editor Yap Leng Kuen of StarBiz was cock sure that it would.

Reuters reports a while ago, quoting 'sources close to the talks', that the deal is off partly because of political concerns.

"The talks have been cancelled," sounds the emphatic slang from Reuters, quoting an unnamed spokesman for Media Prima.

This is the blame, via Reuters:

"... People in the background are throwing knives in the deal, when Media Prima is doing a due diligence," said a source familiar with the talks.

He blamed the influence of politicians for pressure to revise the merger plan but he would not go into detail.

But the financial fraternity sees it differently. They thought Media Prima, which controls NSTP, will shop for an exit strategy from NSTP, get cash to finance its TV businesses, and make Kumpulan Utusan the majority shareholder, or the ultimate sucker, depending on whichever way you look at it.

Quote Reuters:

But Media Prima was not thought to be a long-term holder of a merged firm, they added, predicting that it would ultimately sell down and reinvest the proceeds in its main television business.

"The market views that a merger will result in Media Prima lowering its stake in New Straits Times Press and getting cash back...," brokerage AmSecurities said in a note to its clients.

Let me tell you this, our friend from PAS Husam Musa, who started blogging in September, has a pungent entry about the NeST-UM merger, titled: Utusan tak jadi kawin NST? He looks at the political fallout on Umno, to be precise.

Utusan's statement to Bursa Malaysia dated Dec 4 is available here, and NSTP's is available here.