News Limited to sell Sky NZ stake
News Limited its to sell its stake in NZ pay TV company Sky TV Network.
The company will put its 44% stake on sale on Monday. The AFR puts the value of the sale at around $700m.
The move comes ahead of News Limited’s owner, News Corp, splitting into two. News Limited will be held by the new News Corp, while the Australian says that the new Fox Group, which will hold the organisation’s TV interests in the rest of the world, would have owned the Sky stake.
News Limited’s assets include half of Foxtel, Fox Sports and the company’s Australian newspapers.
Updated: News Corp issued the following statement:
“News Corporation today announced that its News Limited subsidiary will divest its 44% stake in Sky Network Television Limited, New Zealand’s pre-eminent pay television broadcasting service.
“News Limited has appointed Deutsche Bank to underwrite and, together with Craigs Investment Partners, to manage, the sales of its SKY shares. It is expected that the shares will be sold to a broad range of institutional and retail investors.
“Following the sales, News Limited will no longer have any holding in SKY Network Television Limited.
“Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation said: “Sky is a world class subscription television business and has been an outstanding investment for News Corporation. We and Sky have always enjoyed an excellent, arms-length working relationship and we expect this to continue unaffected by the sale. In particular, we do not anticipate any change to current arrangements regarding access to content and collaboration on technology.”
“As a result of the sale, Michael Miller, Regional Director of News Limited, will resign from the board of Sky.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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