Investors win big in £30bn Sky takeover
. . . and boss Jeremy Darroch could pocket £40m
HEDGE funds, advisers and thousands of ordinary shareholders are poring over the spoils from the £30bn takeover battle for Sky.
Chief executive Jeremy Darroch is also in line for a jackpot of almost £40m following the twoyear fight for the company between Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and US giant Comcast. Sky shares have more than doubled, generating a windfall worth billions of pounds.
After a rare three-round auction on Saturday, Comcast trumped Fox with a knock- out blow of £17.28 a share, way ahead of Fox’s offer of £15.67 and 125pc higher than Sky’s share price of £7.69 in December 2016 when Fox first made an approach.
Hedge funds Baupost, Elliott and Odey Asset Management are also big winners. They are thought to own almost 10pc between them, meaning they could make more than £1bn. Odey Asset Management, whose boss Crispin Odey, 59, was briefly married to Murdoch’s daughter Prudence, owns 0.6pc and reportedly started buying in 2005 at an average of £6.81, meaning he could make £100m. Billionaire Paul Singer’s hedge fund Elliott, known for its aggressive campaigns against management, could make more than £400m from its 4.3pc stake. Baupost, founded by Harvard professor William Poorvu, would have made around £600m on the 4.75pc stake it started building last year.
Sky bosses are also among the shareholders in line for a major windfall. Darroch, who has been at the helm of the broadcaster for just over a decade, stands to make up to around £40m if his existing and future share awards pay out.
The 55-year-old, who has helped the firm top 23m subscribers and brought US TV hits such as Game of Thrones ( pictured) to the UK, is one of the best-paid bosses in Britain already. Last year he took home more than £16m and has earned almost £85m in pay and bonuses since 2007.
Darroch’s future with the firm under new owners has not yet been laid out. The price paid by Comcast could also help hand finance chief Andrew Griffith, 47, up to £25m. About 13,000 Sky staff will also share the spoils.
City advisers, meanwhile, are in line for £580m. Bid documents showed that Fox will pay as much as £242m to advisers. Comcast is dishing out around £243m, while Sky has racked up a bill of £96m.