Britain's BSkyB has agreed to pay $9 billion to buy Rupert Murdoch's pay-TV companies in Germany and Italy, taking its hunt for growth into Europe by creating a media powerhouse with 20 million customers. BSkyB, in which Murdoch's 21st Century Fox is also the largest shareholder, will pay for the deal using cash, debt, its stake in a TV channel and a placing of shares that represents around 10 percent of its issued share capital.
The deal, which makes BSkyB the leading pay-TV provider in Europe, adds to a flurry of consolidation in the global media sector as traditional entertainment companies seek to bulk up to compete against more nimble Internet rivals. Fox is expected to use the proceeds to fuel its pursuit of Time Warner, which recently rejected Fox's initial $80 billion bid.
BSkyB had flagged a possible deal for Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia in May. The price announced on Friday was slightly lower than expected by some analysts and the cost and revenue benefits higher. But BSkyB's shares fell 5 percent, pulled lower by the plan to issue stock and suspend a share buy-back. "It is a bit of a step in the unknown for Sky," said Conor O'Shea, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets. "For the first time, it will go from UK-focused to European and be asked to prove that it can add value from being larger."
O'Shea has a "buy" rating on BSkyB shares. Facing the toughest market conditions in its 25-year history, BSkyB has decided its future growth lies in creating a European pay-TV leader that will operate in Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. BSkyB dominates British pay-TV, offering its premium sports, movies and US drama programming to more than 10 million homes. Of 97 million households in the five countries it wants to target, 66 million are yet to take pay-TV.
"Sky is clearly taking the strategic view that Pay TV, already ingrained in the US culture, will become prevalent in Europe," said Richard Hunter, Head of Equities at Hargreaves Lansdown. Fox owns 100 percent of Sky Italia, 57 percent of Sky Deutschland and 39 percent of BSkyB. BSkyB will pay 2.45 billion pounds ($4.2 billion) for Sky Italia and 2.9 billion pounds for Fox's 57 percent stake in Sky Deutschland.
Under German takeover law, BSkyB also has to make an offer for the minority investors in Sky Deutschland, but with only a small premium on the table, analysts doubt that many will sell. The overall price for the deal would rise to around 7 billion pounds if German investors did sell out. For Sky Italia, the price will be made up of cash and BSkyB's 21 percent stake in the National Geographic Channel, valued at around 382 million pounds.
Fox said it would subscribe to the share issue to keep its stake in BSkyB stable, meaning it will take net proceeds from the deal of around $7.2 billion. The placing raised 1.4 billion pounds, according to traders. In the eyes of many media executives and investors, programming and content are now seen as more valuable than the infrastructure that carries it to people's homes. That change has been driven in part by firms such as Netflix and Google's Youtube, which have taken away viewers from traditional pay-TV services delivered by satellite operators or cable companies.
Comments
Comments are closed.