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Business News/ Companies / News/  Quick-fire auction may settle Sky bidding war

Quick-fire auction may settle Sky bidding war

Fox's takeover was held up by regulatory scrutiny of the proposed deal and was gatecrashed by Comcast

The sale will be the biggest ever deal in UK to be decided by a panel-run auction. Photo: AP

London: A protracted $34 billion bidding war for European broadcaster Sky between US rivals Comcast and Twenty-First Century Fox could be settled by a quick-fire auction on Saturday, UK regulators said on Thursday.

Britain’s takeover panel said that it was prepared to take the rare step of intervening in the battle for Sky by running an auction that lasts for a maximum of three rounds.

The process will start if neither Comcast nor Fox have admitted defeat in the fight for Sky by 5pm London time on Friday, the panel said.

The auction will then take place on Saturday and will finish during the evening, when the regulator will announce the level of the bids submitted by the suitors.

It would mark a dramatic resolution of Sky’s fate, which has been up in the air ever since Fox made its first bid for the 61% of Sky that it does not already own in December 2016. Fox’s takeover was held up by regulatory scrutiny of the proposed deal and was then gatecrashed by Comcast earlier this year.

The world’s biggest entertainment group Comcast currently leads Fox in the fight with a £14.75 a share offer for control of Sky that values the broadcaster at £25.9 billion ($34.2 billion).

That trumped the £14 a share offer made by Fox earlier in July and is 37 percent above Fox’s original £10.75 a share bid in 2016.

Fox’s bid for Sky is backed by Walt Disney, which in June agreed a separate deal to buy TV and film assets from Fox, including its existing 39% Sky shareholding, for about $71 billion.

An auction for Sky, which broadcasts to 23 million households across Europe, would the biggest ever deal in the UK to be decided by a panel-run auction.

There have only been three British takeover situations since 2007 that have involved auctions handled by the regulator, including the £6.2 billion sale of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus to Tata Steel.

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