Sinclair Broadcasting Begins Secondary Offering

Television broadcasting company Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SBGI) today commenced an underwritten secondary offering of 14 million shares of class A stock. Joint book-runners for the offering are Wells Fargo Securities and J.P. Morgan.

Earlier this month, Sinclair agreed to acquire Fisher Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: FSCI) for approximately $373 million in cash. Including this acquisition, Sinclair broadcast empire will reach more than a third of all U.S. television households.

Today's offering includes a 30-day option from some selling stockholders for an additional 2.1 million shares. Net proceeds from the offering will be used to fund pending and future potential acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.

The number of shares in the offering equals about 17% of Sinclair's total number of shares outstanding.

Shares of Sinclair have jumped more than 16% in the two weeks since the announcement of the Fisher acquisition and more than 35% in the past 30 days. The stock has more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

Shares are down about 1.8% this morning, at $27.00 in a 52-week range of $7.82 to $28.53.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, IPOs & Secondaries, Media, Pre-Market Activity, Secondary Offering, TV Tagged: FSCI, SBGI