Forty-nine percent of votes cast opposed the A$6.20-a-share cash bid, which needed 75% support to succeed, APN Deputy Chairman Ted Harris told the shareholders' meeting in Sydney last week.

Independent couldn't vote with its 38.5% stake.

The buyout is the latest to fail in Australia, where investors this year have rejected offers for Qantas Airways and Flight Centre.

Independent, which had teamed with US buyout firms Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners, last month unsuccessfully raised its bid to try to sway investors.

"The market is basically saying that it's not going to give things away to private equity, " said Nola Hodgson, a media analyst at UBS AG in Sydney. "It's going to make sure that it gets compensated sufficiently."

The bidding group raised its offer by 15 cents, or 2.5%, since first making a formal bid in January, compared with a 9.2% increase in Australia's benchmark index during the same period.

The sweetened offer was at the low end of a share valuation of A$6.18 to A$6.53 by Deloitte Corporate Finance, who APN hired to assess the bid.

"The price is inadequate, " Jack Chemello, who holds 2.8m APN shares for the $35bn he helps manage at BT Financial Group in Sydney, said before the vote. "There's no control premium built in and I think investors would want to see one before they sell out."

Shares of APN rose 7 cents to A$5.87 at the close of trade in Sydney on Friday. The stock was trading at A$5.49 on 25 Oct, the day before APN first said it had been approached.