Rivals agree to settle Sky takeover duel with auction

THE long-running bidding battle for Sky will be decided in a quick-fire auction finishing tomorrow night, the UK’s Takeover Panel has announced.

The panel said Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and US media giant Comcast have agreed to settle the takeover tussle with a three-round auction that is due to kick off at 5pm today and end during the evening of September 22.

The process has been triggered as Fox and Comcast have yet to announce their best-and-final bids for pay-TV giant Sky ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.

The Takeover Panel said the first round of the auction will begin with Fox firing the gun on proceedings as it currently has the lowest bid.

The winner of the auction will be announced “as soon as practicable” after it finishes tomorrow in a dramatic end to one of the City’s most complex and convoluted takeover sagas in recent memory.

It comes after Comcast increased its offer for Sky to £26bn in July, just hours after Fox hiked its bid for the 61% stake in the UK broadcaster that it does not already own to £24.5bn.

Fox has not responded with a higher offer.

Neither Fox nor Comcast will be able to submit revised bids after 5pm today, unless as part of the auction.

The auction will run to a maximum of three rounds, with both bidders able to make increased offers if it runs to a third and final round.

Fox and Comcast are only allowed to make fixed-price cash bids in sterling.

But the panel said it is possible the auction may finish with revised offers from both firms at the same price in cash.

Shareholders will have to vote on the final bids by October 11.

It is rare for the panel to run auctions in takeover situations, with Tata’s victory in acquiring UK steelmaker Corus in 2008 one of just a few in the past decade.

It marks a fitting end to a fascinating takeover, though, which has taken many twists and turns since Fox first made its original £11.7bn bid in December 2016.

Mr Murdoch has long wanted to seize full control of Sky, having previously made an ill-fated attempt to buy it out in 2011.

But his latest move is part of a much bigger picture.

Since Fox made its first bid for Sky nearly two years ago, it has agreed to sell a major chunk of its business — including the existing 39% Sky stake — to US entertainment behemoth Walt Disney.