Comcast Doesn’t Have to Raise Its Sky Bid—at Least for Now
(Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp. doesn'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 to win the battle for Sky unless it's outbid by 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co.
Sky is caught up in a global fight for scale between Comcast and Disney. Comcast wants the British broadcaster so it can 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.
Click here for more about Disney's yearlong quest to buy Fox
The U.K. Takeover Panel's decision Friday reaffirmed its earlier ruling on 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.
Fox, whose latest offer for Sky is at 14 pounds per share, has a deadline of Aug. 9 to submit its bid to Sky shareholders. Unless it tops Comcast by then, investors probably won't accept it.
Disney, which would ultimately need to agree for Fox to raise its Sky bid, has said that every 1-pound increase in the offer price for Sky shares would represent about $1.5 billion of extra debt and $60 million of interest costs a year.
Disney is scheduled to report third-quarter financial results on Tuesday and Fox reports on Wednesday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Penty in London at rpenty@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Thomas Pfeiffer
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
