21st Century Fox has formally lodged its $14.4bn bid to take full control of Sky.
21st Century Fox has formally lodged its $14.4bn bid to take full control of Sky.
The deal will now need to gain regulatory approval, which values Sky at more than $22bn. If the deal goes through, it will give Fox control of pay-TV operations in the UK, Germany and Italy in addition to ownership of the Times, Sunday Times and Sun, and the radio group TalkSport.
The committee, which unanimously accepted the deal, included the Sky Chief Executive, Jeremy Darroch, and the Finance Chief, Andrew Griffith.
James Murdoch, Skys Chairman, who is also Chief Executive of Fox, said he was confident the deal would pass regulatory muster and would be completed before the end of 2017.
We will be engaging with the relevant agencies and authorities, no meaningful concessions will need to be made,” he said.
The UK government is unlikely to decide whether to refer the Fox takeover to Ofcom, the media regulator, before the new year. The deal is also expected to require clearance from the European Commission following Skys acquisition of Foxs Italian and German TV businesses in 2014.
Ofcom will have up to 40 working days to file its public interest report on the deal, assuming Bradley asks the media regulator to investigate.
Lachlan Murdoch, the 21st Century Fox executive chairman, said: We are excited to bring Sky fully into 21st Century Fox. Partial ownership of Sky was not natural end state for us. Fully combining the businesses is a clear logical next step of portfolio evolution.”
