21CF responds to Comcast Sky share offer with lower bid

21CF responds to Comcast Sky share offer with lower bid
Joseph O'Halloran
| 08 August 2018

In the first actions of the decisive week for the future ownership of the pay-TV provider, Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has confirmed that it will seek to buy the 61% of Sky that it does not own at $14 share, lower than the previous bid by rival Comcast.
Sky Q2Results 25Jan2018
The bidding war for the money truck that is Sky began almost a decade ago and the battle for ownership driven significant changes in the UK and US media landscapes which have also been transformed by the emergence of Netflix as the industry pacesetter in that time.

Under UK corporate law, namely the requirements of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, 21CF has been mandated to publish an offer document in respect of its previously announced cash offer by no later than 9 August 2018, the date falling 28 days after the satisfaction or waiver of the last outstanding pre-condition to the previously announced cash offer. 21CF satisfied this requirement by posting the Offer Document and Form of Acceptance.

On 11 July 2018, 21CF raised the stakes for Sky when increased its recommended pre-conditional cash offer for the fully diluted share capital of Sky which it and its affiliates do not already own at a price of £14.00 for each Sky share. This was £1.50 per share in excess of the prior Comcast bid and valued Sky at £24.5 billion. The very next day, the US cable giant came back to the table with a bid of £14.75 per share, implying a value of £26 billion.

As it made its bid, 21CF noted that, in accordance with Rule 32.1 of the City Code, the deadline for publication of a revised offer document is 22 September 2018.