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Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

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idpickering
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Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#143921

Postby idpickering » June 5th, 2018, 2:21 pm

This from BBC Business;

The UK government will let 21st Century Fox take over Sky if it sells Sky News, Culture Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

He has also cleared Comcast's bid to take over Sky, but has referred Fox's bid for a further consultation.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44373621

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#143936

Postby OLTB » June 5th, 2018, 3:33 pm

Thank goodness for that - I was wondering when a decision would finally be made...hopefully we can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this sale and wait for the proceeds to pay out.

I'll wait for the bidding war to be over first rather than cashing in now 8-)

Cheers, OLTB.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#143951

Postby idpickering » June 5th, 2018, 5:02 pm

More on this from Bloomberg;

U.K. Clears Fox's Sky Bid, Subject to Sale of News

Rupert Murdoch, the 87-year-old media baron looking to cap off a career of global gamesmanship, just scored another victory.

The U.K. plans to approve a proposal by Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. to acquire Sky Plc, the largest pay-TV provider in the country. The move gives Fox the clearance it needs to continue pursuing the transaction -- but it’s no done deal. Comcast Corp. has submitted a higher bid for Sky, and U.K. authorities want to ensure that Fox divests the Sky News business if it completes the takeover.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... le-of-news

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#145403

Postby OLTB » June 13th, 2018, 10:25 am

Morning all

Following a ferderal judge's approval for the Time Warner/AT&T $85.4bn :shock: merger to proceed https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/12/busi ... l-att.html, in spite of The Donald's reluctance, the US business pages seem to think that this spurs on the other media giants to try and build their own empires, which focuses on, for some of us, the importance of the ongoing tussle between 21CF and Comcast for Sky's business... :D

Cheers, OLTB.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#145452

Postby Bouleversee » June 13th, 2018, 3:40 pm

Rather glad I sold my ISA holding a little while ago @ £13.57 but maybe hedging my bets by keeping the non-ISA holding wasn't such a good idea. Time will tell.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#145456

Postby OLTB » June 13th, 2018, 4:22 pm

Bouleversee wrote:Rather glad I sold my ISA holding a little while ago @ £13.57 but maybe hedging my bets by keeping the non-ISA holding wasn't such a good idea. Time will tell.


Yes indeed Bouleversee - I hope that Comcast and Disney will be wanting to diversify as much as possible, buying cash generative businesses, like Sky, that give them the wider audience they desire to try and keep up with the behemoth that Time Warner and AT&T will become. In a nice way, I hope that the outcome will give you a tax headache as that means you will have done very well financially!!

Cheers, OLTB.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#145895

Postby OLTB » June 15th, 2018, 4:03 pm

Afternoon all

Brussels has also just cleared the Comcast bid for Sky - so says the BBC - and paves the way for an 'epic multi-billion-dollar takeover tussle'.

The Sky share price has done diddly-squat on this news so I assume that Mr Market thinks that the maximum price to be bid will be around the £13.40 mark (current Comcast offer is £12.50 / share).

Cheers, OLTB.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#146431

Postby Bouleversee » June 18th, 2018, 12:10 pm

OLTB wrote:
Bouleversee wrote:Rather glad I sold my ISA holding a little while ago @ £13.57 but maybe hedging my bets by keeping the non-ISA holding wasn't such a good idea. Time will tell.


Yes indeed Bouleversee - I hope that Comcast and Disney will be wanting to diversify as much as possible, buying cash generative businesses, like Sky, that give them the wider audience they desire to try and keep up with the behemoth that Time Warner and AT&T will become. In a nice way, I hope that the outcome will give you a tax headache as that means you will have done very well financially!!

Cheers, OLTB.


No danger of it causing me a tax headache as I only had £3k in the dealing account so we are only talking about £1660 profit at current price and as you have now suggested, it doesn't sound as though it's likely to go up much more than that and could be less. Also, I have c/f losses I could use if necessary. On the other hand, if I were an executive or senior manager at Sky, it would be a different story. I gather they will share a pay-out of at least £350m if the takeover goes through, an average pay-out of £500,000. A nice headache to have.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#146724

Postby OLTB » June 19th, 2018, 4:45 pm

Afternoon all

Wow - nearly there! Matt Hancock the Culture Secretary has confirmed that the improved remedies that Sky has secured in respect of Sky News is sufficient for him to approve the deal here https://news.sky.com/story/new-undertak ... d-11409775. But it's not quite over... the actual rubber stamping could be on the 4th July when the official consulting period is over so we'll have to wait just a little longer!

Cheers OLTB.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#146966

Postby Bouleversee » June 20th, 2018, 6:22 pm

I'm getting rather confused by all this. I see the s.p. is 1380p today which is quite a bit more than the highest bid so far received and I am rather tempted to sell rather than wait for a higher bid which may not materialise. Any reason why not?

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#146993

Postby PinkDalek » June 20th, 2018, 8:48 pm

Disney Raises Offer for 21st Century Fox in Bidding War With Comcast:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/busi ... y-fox.html

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#146997

Postby Bouleversee » June 20th, 2018, 9:05 pm

Thanks, PD. No idea how it will pan out and who will get SKY in the end.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#147416

Postby Bouleversee » June 22nd, 2018, 7:07 pm

Well, I didn't sell and have decided to sit it out. The range of estimates for the ultimate price is so wide as to be ridiculous and if the "experts" vary so much, I have no chance of being close. According to an article in today's Times, Crispin Odey who holds 0,9% of Sky, estimates that it is worth between £18 and £26 per share and suggests "that money already spent on programming would feed through to improved sales at Sky and that this could push up free cash flow from £1.6bn to £2.5bn which would value Sky at closer to £26 per share". However, Ian Whittaker, an analyst at Liberum, said that Sky's price was unlikely to be bid further than 10% above Comcast's offer, which would value Sky's shares at £13.75p, less than today's price. Quite a difference of opinion between those two.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#147455

Postby OLTB » June 23rd, 2018, 7:34 am

I’m with you Bouleversee and am going to rely on ‘market trading’. If I sold out when the initial takeover was announced and dividends ceased it would have been a mistake for me given the share price increase and if I sell now, that might also be a mistake! If investors rely on dividends I can understand their reasons for selling the stock previously, but I am treating the eventual uptick in value as a huge ‘special’!

Cheers, OLTB.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#147461

Postby Bouleversee » June 23rd, 2018, 8:25 am

OLTB:

My only regret about selling one holding at £13.75p (which had nothing to do with dividends) is that I should have sold the dealing account rather than the ISA holding. There must have been a reason for this but I am blowed if I can remember it. Possibly because I wanted to buy more PFC in my ISA and am trying to reduce non-ISA holdings) However, as I said previously even if realised gains in this year exceed the allowance, I can realise losses or use c/f ones to avoid cgt so it doesn't really matter. It's going to be interesting watching future developments. Do you have any hunch as to who is likely to win the battle? I can't say I do myself.

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Re: Government clears way for Fox's Sky deal

#147463

Postby OLTB » June 23rd, 2018, 8:40 am

It's a toughie isn't it - it's always unwise to make predictions, so I'll just say that I think that with the recent green light for the AT&T/Time Warner merger in the US, both Fox/Disney and Comcast will really want this cash generative business with a large audience and client base. Which can only be good news (I hope)... As for Crispin Odey - as his fund has a relatively high shareholding, I'm not surprised he's talking the share price up. From memory, I think one of his funds had a particularly bad year or so recently (which is allowed - nobody's perfect!) so as I say, we'll just have to see how much each party is willing to pay.

Cheers, OLTB.


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