Cable company tries to outfox Murdoch with rival bid for Sky
Visitors to S’ville from China up by 170%
US CABLE giant Comcast joined in the battle for panEuropean satellite TV group Sky yesterday, outbidding Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, whose takeover ambitions have hit UK government resistance.
In a surprise announcement before the London stock market opened, Comcast said it was making an all-cash offer of £12.50 per share for Sky, or more than £22 billion ($31 billion, € 25 billion) overall.
That is substantially more than the £10.75 per share or £11.4 billion that Fox has offered for the 61 percent of Sky it does not already own.
The announcement – and the prospect of a bidding war – sent Sky’s share price soaring more than 20 percent on the London Stock Exchange.
“We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50 percent of the Sky shares,” said Comcast Chief Executive and Chairman Brian L Roberts.
“We are confident that we will be able to receive the necessary regulatory approvals.”
Sky has yet to formally respond to the offer, while analysts eyed even higher offers.
“Sky is a prized asset for Murdoch so this could quickly escalate into a bidding war,” said London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler.
The new twist comes after Britain’s competition regulator provisionally ruled that Fox’s offer was “not in the public interest”.
In 2016, 21st Century Fox bid for the nearly two-thirds of Sky it does not own – but a fulltakeover had been held up by UK government concerns.
In an effort to get its offer over the line, Fox earlier this month vowed to preserve the editorial independence of Sky News.
That came after Britain’s top competition regulator ruled that the Sky takeover was not in the public interest because of media plurality concerns.
‘23 million customers’
Adding to the uncertainty about Sky’s future ownership, Disney announced in December a $52.4 billion deal to buy 21st Century Fox. Including debt, the deal is worth $66.1 billion.
And Comcast, which in December dropped an attempt to acquire 21st Century Fox, is considering relaunching that bid, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
Speaking of Sky yesterday, Comcast CEO Roberts said: “We think Sky is an outstanding company. It has 23 million customers, leading positions in the UK, Italy and Germany, and is a consistent innovator in its use of technology to deliver its customers a great experience.”
And in a thumbs up to Britain amid Brexit uncertainty, he added: “The UK is and will remain a great place to do business. We already have a strong presence in London and Comcast intends to use Sky as a plat- form for our growth in Europe.
“We intend to maintain and enhance Sky’s business,” Roberts said.
In response to the Comcast bid, Sky’s share price surged to £13.32 on London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was up slightly overall in midmorning deals.
“Comcast’s approach for Sky is a fascinating development in the battle for media might,” said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
“The deal would have attractions on a number of fronts, not least of which would be the removal of complexity from the current tripartite discussions between Fox, Disney and Sky.”
If successful, Comcast said it “intends to maintain Sky News’ existing brand and culture, as well as its strong track record for high-quality impartial news and adherence to broadcasting standards”.
Comcast added that it did not believe its offer “should create any media plurality concerns in the UK”.
Sky is well known also for its coverage of live English Premier League football and earlier this month it retained its position as the main broadcaster of EPL matches by winning a majority of television rights for 2019-22 matches in a multibillionpound deal. CHINESE tourism to the Cambodian beach town of Sihanoukville increased by 170 percent last year as the total amount of Chinese tourists climbed to 1.2 million, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon.
On the sidelines of the presentation of the Ministry of Tourism’s annual report yesterday, Khon said that he welcomed the increase in Chinese tourism, noting that it was important to increase the quality of hospitality services in order to attract more Chinese tourists in the upcoming year.
“We have to promote our beautiful beaches and Angkor Wat by providing high-quality hospitality in order to attract more tourists,” he said, adding that Sihanoukville has been working to improve its reputation by encouraging cleanliness, safety and quality of service.
The Ministry of Tourism expects to welcome 1.7 million Chinese visitors this year and anticipates attracting 2.5 million Chinese tourists annually by 2020, according to the report.
“Because China’s standard of living has increased, the growth of Chinese arrivals in Cambodia continues to increase,” Khon said.
When asked about possible negative effects of the influx of Chinese tourists, who have been blamed for causing an uptick in crime and hurting some locallyowned businesses in Sihanoukville, Khon said he was not overly concerned.
“I don’t worry about the influx of Chinese coming,” he said. “We are a free market. If the Chinese tourists comply with the law and pay taxes on their purchases, that is good for Cambodia.”