Hedge funds prey on Sky

oNE of wall street’s most ruthless vulture funds is targeting sky as the British broadcaster tries to seal its £11.7bn sale to 21st Century Fox.

Elliott Capital Advisors has built a 1.1pc stake in the firm, according to regulatory filings. The activist fund last year launched an assault on dulux maker Akzo Nobel. its move to snap up sky shares will prompt fresh fears for sky News.

due to concerns about how much influence Fox chairman rupert Murdoch has over the UK media, the news channel has emerged as the sole barrier to sky’s sale.

Murdoch, 86, already owns The sun, The Times and The sunday Times newspapers and regulators have objected to sky News also falling under his control. senior sources at the firm warned this could cause hedge funds – who have built stakes in sky and want a quick profit – to aggressively push for a fire-sale of sky News or for the pioneering channel to simply be shut down.

Elliott declined to comment yesterday.