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BRITAIN-US-TELEVISION-TAKEOVER-SKY-COMCAST-FOX
Sky shares soar on Comcast takeover victory
LONDON, Sept 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Shares in British broadcaster Sky soared
Monday after US cable giant Comcast outgunned Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century
Fox in a dramatic auction for the pan-European television operator.
In morning deals, Sky shares surged 8.8 percent to o17.24 on London’s
falling FTSE 100 index, after Comcast bid o30.6 billion ($40 billion, 34
billion euros) or o17.28 per share in a blind auction held on Saturday.
Fox, which already owns 39 percent of Sky, had offered o15.67 per share to
value the total group at o27.6 billion.
Management at Sky has recommended that its shareholders “immediately”
accept the bid, which it has described as “an excellent outcome”.
The heart-stopping auction drama marked a climax to a long-running battle
for control of Europe’s biggest pay TV provider.
“Sky shareholders are popping the champagne after this weekend’s bidding
auction valued the company at eye watering levels,” said Interactive Investor
analyst Rebecca O’Keeffe.
The takeover tussle comes as global players like Comcast and 21st Century
Fox grapple with a fast-changing television landscape — and intense
competition from online streaming giants Amazon and Netflix.
“The premium that is being offered by Comcast in indicative of how much
pressure is on traditional media platforms,” added O’Keeffe.
“Their newer tech savvy rivals have revolutionised the way people engage
with TV and internet content.”
Sky broadcasts blockbuster films and drama including cult US series “Games
of Thrones”, and has lucrative rights to English Premier League football.
The London-listed group, which has a subscription base of 23 million, is
widely regarded as one of Europe’s most profitable and powerful TV companies.
The weekend auction all but settled a titanic battle between the two media
empires, but the Comcast bid remains subject to shareholder approval.
Comcast was forced to drop a separate bid to take over Fox itself because
it needed the money to go after Sky.
This allowed Walt Disney Co. to complete a mega-merger with Fox that
should close next year.
Saturday’s auction thus turned into a proxy battle between Comcast and
Disney for Sky.
“The bidding war is over and the biggest winners in all of this are Sky
shareholders,” said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
“The o17.28 offer from Comcast delivered the requisite knockout blow.
“It had always been the case that Sky meant more to Comcast that it would
to Disney/Fox.”
BSS/AFP/HR/1450