• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 4, 2013

The owners of the Sportsman Channel are determined to execute a merger with the Outdoor Channel, striking back against a higher buyout offer last week. InterMedia Partners said it has told the Outdoor Channel Holdings board that its offer to purchase the company is more favorable than a counterbid made by a group led by sports entrepreneur Stan Kroenke.
 
InterMedia last fall had agreed to merge with Outdoor Channel under an agreement giving its stockholders $8 a share or one share in the newly combined company. That entity would include the two outdoor networks and a host of outdoor enthusiast magazines.
 
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment offered $8.75 a share and the Outdoor Channel board informed the company that it likely would be classified as a “superior proposal,” as determined by the terms of the InterMedia agreement.
 
But InterMedia said that wasn’t the case and its bid offered Outdoor Channel shareholders “stock in a much larger and more valuable enterprise” with the combination of the Sportsman Channel and magazines. In a letter to the Outdoor Channel Holdings board, InterMedia said it has indentified added potential synergies of $2 million to $4 million, in combining the three businesses.

Shareholders would benefit from “significant equity upside” that the new company “can deliver in the future," it noted.
 
On Monday, Outdoor Channel’s shares soared a little over 14.5% to close at $8.65, just below the Kroenke offer.
 
The Kroenke group runs the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and a regional sports network.