{"id":367255,"date":"2026-04-07T04:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367255\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T04:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:10:09","slug":"media-insider-major-nzme-shareholder-spheria-asset-management-explains-selldown-of-shares-jim-grenon-now-media-firms-biggest-shareholder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367255\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Insider: Major NZME shareholder Spheria Asset Management explains selldown of shares; Jim Grenon now media firm\u2019s biggest shareholder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs you may be aware, the major superannuation funds in Australia are swallowing smaller ones, which is affecting mandates run by managers like us,\u201d Spheria Asset Management portfolio manager Matthew Booker told Media Insider today. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, a major client of ours (ie Telstra Super) has merged with Aware Super, the result being we have lost a significant mandate. The reduction in our holding for NZM [NZME] predominantly reflects this change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SpheriaSpheria Asset Management portfolio manager Matthew Booker.<\/p>\n

The Telstra-Aware merger, announced last year, is effective from April 30 and combines their $A237 billion ($287.2b) in funds under management and more than 1.3 million members.<\/p>\n

In March last year, Booker made pointed comments about NZME\u2019s performance, as businessman and fellow shareholder Jim Grenon led a charge to overhaul the media company\u2019s board. <\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past two years, we have been deeply disappointed with NZME\u2019s financial performance,\u201d Booker said at the time. \u201cDespite our patience, it has become clear that a shake-up is necessary for NZME to not only survive but also have a chance to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Booker said Spheria was \u201cvery pleased with the performance of NZM and are fully supportive of the restructured board\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cRecent results indicate the turnaround is gathering speed and there is significant scope for capital appreciation despite a challenging macro-environment,\u201d Booker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not envisage reducing our position and we don\u2019t have any further significant mandates under any threat of loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to an earlier NZX announcement last week, Pinnacle Investment Group also reduced its shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n

NZME owns the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB, property website\/app OneRoof, BusinessDesk and a suite of entertainment radio stations, including ZM and The Hits.<\/p>\n

\"NZMENZME director and major shareholder Jim Grenon. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Spheria\u2019s move last week came several days after Grenon became the biggest shareholder of NZME, as reported by Media Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to an NZX notice on March 27, Grenon acquired 1,780,123 shares for $1.985 million, taking his total ownership to 37,474,925 shares, or more than 19.90% of the firm.<\/p>\n

Takeover rules start to apply if any shareholder wants to acquire more than 20% of a publicly listed company.<\/p>\n

Grenon told Media Insider at the time he had no plans to further increase his shareholding.<\/p>\n

NZME \u2013 whose shares opened at $1.10 on Monday \u2013 declined today to comment on the Spheria Asset Management sell-down.<\/p>\n

\"NZMENZME board chairman Steven Joyce. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

In another NZX announcement in late March, NZME chairman Steven Joyce lifted his own holding, with the acquisition of 50,000 shares for $55,500. He now holds 100,965 shares.<\/p>\n

In other announcements the day prior, new NZME board member Kate Parsons acquired 20,000 shares for $22,352 and performance rights shares stemming from the company\u2019s 2023 long-term incentive plan were cancelled for chief executive Michael Boggs and former chief financial officer David Mackrell.<\/p>\n

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAs you may be aware, the major superannuation funds in Australia are swallowing smaller ones, which is affecting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,15408,16391,1135,6743,6326,6255,4500,4731,6097,37119,25337,295,26265,2936,16081,661,1044,1073,111,139,425,69,26263,24393,1118,13420,32536,13311,192640,2122,26264,180,192639,213,38693],"class_list":{"0":"post-367255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-almost","10":"tag-asset","11":"tag-australian","12":"tag-became","13":"tag-biggest","14":"tag-businessman","15":"tag-changes","16":"tag-days","17":"tag-down","18":"tag-explains","19":"tag-firms","20":"tag-fund","21":"tag-grenon","22":"tag-insider","23":"tag-jim","24":"tag-major","25":"tag-management","26":"tag-media","27":"tag-new-zealand","28":"tag-newzealand","29":"tag-now","30":"tag-nz","31":"tag-nzme","32":"tag-nzmes","33":"tag-of","34":"tag-quarter","35":"tag-register","36":"tag-sell","37":"tag-selldown","38":"tag-share","39":"tag-shareholder","40":"tag-shares","41":"tag-spheria","42":"tag-sports","43":"tag-unfolding"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}