Skip to main content

Comcast Doesn’t Have to Raise Its Sky Bid—at Least for Now


Comcast Corp. won’t have to raise its offer for Sky Plc, at least not yet.
A ruling from U.K. takeover authorities on Friday kept a floor price of 14 pounds per share for Sky, below the U.S. cable giant’s overall 26 billion pound ($34 billion) bid. That means Comcast, whose offer for the U.K. pay-TV company is currently the highest, doesn’t have to increase the price unless it’s outbid by 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co.
Sky is part of a global M&A battle between Comcast and Disney for scale. Comcast is trying to outdo Disney and acquire the British broadcaster and expand in Europe, where Sky has 23 million customers. Disney also wants Sky and would inherit the company as part of its purchase of most of Fox, if Fox can succeed in acquiring the 61 percent of Sky that it doesn’t already own.

TheU.K. Takeover Panel’s decision Friday reaffirmed its earlier ruling for the price Disney would have to offer for Sky if Fox or another buyer failed to first succeed in acquiring majority control. The ruling followed an appeal by Sky of the initial decision.
Comcast’s offer for Sky is at 14.75 per share, already well above the Takeover Panel’s threshold.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flipkart, Amazon hit as govt tightens e-commerce norms

The revised e-commerce norms come in the backdrop of several complaints by traders on deep discounts offered by Flipkart and Amazon The government has prohibited e-commerce companies from entering into exclusive deals for products. Tightening e-commerce norms for online retail firms, such as Flipkart and Amazon, the government on Wednesday took a host of steps and barred them from selling products of the companies in which they have stakes. The commerce and industry ministry also prohibited e-commerce companies from entering into exclusive deals for products. “An entity having equity participation by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, or having control on its inventory by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, will not be permitted to sell its products on the platform run by such marketplace entity,” the ministry said. Besides, the revised policy on FDI in e-commerce said that services should be provided by e-commerce marketplace entity o...
Post a Comment
Read more