Sky takeover will trigger fees frenzy for advisers

SKY will hand City advisers nearly £100m if 21st Century Fox completes its takeover of the British broadcaster, it emerged last night.

The pay-TV group expects to spend £90m to £97m on fees, including up to £61.5m on financial and brokering advice to Morgan Stanley, PJT Partners and Barclays among others.

Another £20m will go to lawyers, and there are fees for accountancy and PR, according to a circular from Sky. Fox, which owns 39pc of Sky, is battling US cable giant Comcast for control of the broadcaster. Comcast is in the lead after Sky’s independent directors recommended its offer of £26bn last month, trumping Fox’s £24.5bn.

The firms are keen to acquire Sky to fight off competition from Amazon, Netflix, Apple and Google, which are ramping up investments in TV, film and music.

Fox is pressing ahead with a sale of entertainment assets, including its Sky holdings, to Disney, whose boss, Bob Iger, has referred to Sky as a ‘crown jewel’ in Fox’s assets.