Lew Dickey Raises $207M, Readying To Buy Media Company

Story by Inside Radio

Is Lew Dickey jockeying to get back into the radio business? Or is his radar focused on an acquisition elsewhere? Either way, the former Cumulus Media CEO just raised $207 million in the public markets for some type of deal.

Less than a week after announcing the pricing of a $180 million IPO, Dickey’s newly formed Modern Media Acquisition Corp. formally closed the offering this afternoon. “Demand was strong,” Dickey told Inside Radio. “I’m now hard at work looking for a company in media, entertainment or marketing services [with a] value approaching $1 billion. It will be a ‘platform company’ where we expect to make follow-on acquisitions and will be listed on NASDAQ.”

Dickey is again working with Macquarie Capital, which had a long-term relationship with Cumulus. It was Macquarie, along with Crestview Partners, that helped bankroll Cumulus’ $2.4 billion acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting in 2011. This time Macquarie is the sole “book runner” for the newly launched IPO.

The once-ousted CEO formed a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) branded as Modern Media Acquisition Corp. Also known as a “blank check company,” it’s essentially a blind pool of money that’s going public. Investors are betting on the longtime radio exec to find, buy and operate a business in the media, entertainment or marketing services industries. According to a press release, MMAC was “formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, recapitalization or other similar business combination with a target company.”

Last week it announced the pricing of the IPO, offering 18 million units at $10.00 a pop. Each unit consists of one share of common stock, the right to buy an additional one-tenth of a share “upon the consummation of the Company’s initial business combination,” and one-half of a warrant to buy one share of MMAC common stock at $11.50 per share.

After being ejected as Cumulus CEO on Sept. 29, 2015, during the Radio Show in his hometown, Dickey used some of his downtime to analyze the “dramatic and accelerating” changes in the media business. Dickey toldInside Radio last fall the outcome of that reflection—the book “The New Modern Media,” published by Tourbillon International, a unit of Dickey-owned Modern Luxury Media—is also a roadmap for what he intends to do next.

Dickey resigned his position as vice chairman of the Cumulus board of directors in late March, right around the time his 18-month non-compete agreement expired. Now he plans to use the IPO proceeds to buy a target company.

The stock began trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market as “MMDMU” last Friday. Later on, the common stock, rights and warrants comprising the units will begin trading separately under the ticker symbols “MMDM,” “MMDMR” and “MMDMW,” respectively.

Early Bird Capital, Cowen and Company and I-Bankers Securities are co-managers of the offering.