Mecom, the investment vehicle of former Mirror boss David Montgomery, has finally submitted a formal bid for Dutch regional newspaper group Wegener.

The British media group announced its takeover plans early May, but the deadline for submitting a formal bid in accordance with Dutch law had to be extended thrice to allow time for the UK Listings Authority to approve the prospect.

Mecom offers €17,10 per share in cash, a price that values the Dutch group at €794m. Alternatively, Wegener shareholders can exchange one share for 14.287 shares in the share capital of Mecom Group plc. The tender period commences on 29 August 2007 at 09:00 hours, Amsterdam time, and ends on 4 October 2007 at 15:00 hours, Amsterdam time.

The combined group will create a leading pan-European regional newspaper publisher with combined pro-forma 2006 sales of €2.0bn and pro-forma 2006 EBITDA of €197.9m (via nu.nl)