It looks as if media giant 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOX) (NASDAQ: FOXA) is about to land an asset it’s had its eye on for years. The company and U.K. pay-TV company Sky said in separate press releases that they had agreed in principle for 21st Century Fox to acquire the nearly 61% of Sky it doesn’t already own. The cost is 10.75 pounds ($13.52) per share, for a total of roughly $14 billion, to be paid in cash.
That per-share price represents a premium of around 40% to Sky’s closing price on the day before the agreement was announced.
The deal, though, isn’t entirely set in stone. In its press release, 21st Century Fox said that “certain material offer terms remain under discussion, and the Possible Offer may or may not lead to an offer being made.” The company did not elaborate, although The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” is reporting that one of the terms still being negotiated is the amount of the breakup fee should the deal fall apart.
The move comes five years after Fox’s predecessor, News Corp, made a play to gain full control of the British broadcaster. That attempt was abandoned in the wake of a high-profile scandal involving phone hacking by News Corp’s U.K.-based tabloid newspaper News of the World. Soon thereafter, the newspaper was shut down.
Fox and Sky have had a close relationship for many years. This past January, Fox’s CEO James Murdoch was reappointed chairman of the U.K. company; he had served in the position prior to the News of the World scandal.
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