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21st Century Fox increase bid offer for Sky

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21st Century Fox increase bid offer for Sky

21st Century Fox increased their takeover bid offer for Sky (LON:SKY) on Wednesday, upping their offer to £14 per share and beating a rival offer from Comcast.

The new offer values Sky at £24.5 billion, representing a 12 percent premium to Comcast’s £22 billion bid pitched at £12.50 per share.

21st Century Fox already owns 39 percent of Sky and is widely expected to receive regulatory approval from the UK this week after initially reaching a deal in December 2016. The increased offer this morning was up from £10.75 per share.

Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox, has been trying to increase his share in Sky for some time but has been held up by fears that it could give him too much power over UK media.

Fox has been trying to address those concerns through the disposal of certain parts of the business, including selling Sky News to Disney once the deal is complete.

Shares in Sky are currently trading down 0.97 percent at 1,487.00 (1005GMT).