Sky: after a public consultation period the UK authorises 21^st Century Fox's offer

The UK Secretary of State for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, following a public consultation process which ended on 04/07/2018, has announced that the British broadcasting group Sky is authorised to accept the tender offer from the American conglomorate 21^st Century Fox, on 12/07/2018. Comcast, another American conglomerate, in competition with Fox for the acquisition of Sky, obtained this authorisation on 15/06/2018.

Both companies increased their offers on 11/07/2018. 21^st Century Fox, a 39.1% shareholder of Sky, made an offer of £14 (€15.84) per share, to acquire the remaining 60.9%, which valued Sky at £24.5bn (€ 27.7bn). Comcast outbid this offer a few hours later by offering £14.75 (€16.69) per share to buy 100% of Sky for £25.9bn (€29.3bn).

These takeover offers involve another US conglomerate, The Walt Disney Company, which reached an agreement with 21^st Century Fox to acquire 20^th Century Fox, the studio of the US group, and various TV assets, including 39.1% of the pay-TV group Sky, for an amount of $52.4bn (€45.3bn), on 14/12/2017. Walt Disney…