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Jeremy Darroch, Chairman and CEO of Sky Plc, met Saturday with Sky Plc executives, the board of directors and their advisors to learn about the fate of the British broadcaster.
Less than 10 miles away, Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts has assembled his team at the Stafford, a luxury hotel near Buckingham Palace, and the offices at the corner of St. James Place, Robey Warshaw Consulting. .
On the other side of the street was Rupert Murdoch's apartment in London, although the octogenarian billionaire and his son James have chosen to monitor the debate more than 5,000 kilometers from New Century, home of 21st Century Fox Inc. .
Around noon, by a gray and rainy English day, an almost unprecedented one-day auction kicked off for Sky's control, culminating in a $ 39 billion bid from Comcast (cmcsa) that toppled Fox . This account of the activity behind the scenes is based on interviews with people familiar with the events, who asked not to be identified because the case is confidential. Representatives from Sky, Comcast and Fox declined to comment.
The stake was Sky's control – with 23 million customers in five European countries – as a potential weapon to ward off the growing competition from digital competitors such as Netflix Inc. Roberts could expand its cable empire beyond United States while adding after programming such as English Premier League football rights in the United Kingdom
While Murdoch was bidding against Comcast, it was the CEO of Walt Disney Co., Bob Iger, who effectively called the shots. Disney (dis) is on the verge of acquiring Fox's 39% stake in Sky with the purchase of $ 71 billion from most New York-based companies, scheduled to close next year . Thanks to this agreement, Iger has inherited Sky's offer, which it has described as "jewel of the crown".
Fox submitted its offer in the first round around noon, raising the price by 14 pounds per share. Sky closed Friday at 15.85 pounds – the highest in more than 18 years – giving the company a market value of about 27.3 billion pounds ($ 35.7 billion).
Fox's chief financial officer, John Nallen, in London for the auction, was accompanied by Iger.
Offers climb
Around 3 pm, Comcast reacted by increasing its offer, which spread over several months at 14.75 pounds each.
The emails from the two suitors were sent to an encrypted site run by the UK Takeover Panel, the merger supervisor founded half a century ago in the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral. Each offer had to be verified by telephone via a secure open line.
At Sky's headquarters in Isleworth, Darroch, 56, and Martin Gilbert, Sky's vice president, and Andrew Griffith, chief financial officer, as well as Morgan Stanley's bankers, PJT Partners Inc. and Barclays Plc of the day. As the afternoon gave way to the evening, people strolled outside the conference room to serve up a buffet of cooked beef, fish, cold cuts and salads. . Some, unable to eat, just drank a lot of coffee.
At around 6:30 pm, shortly before sunset, the independent directors led by Gilbert, 63, met to discuss how they might react to the anticipated final offers. The atmosphere remained calm, the prevailing feeling being that they had not reached the end of the road yet.
As time drew near, Comcast and Fox nervously submitted their latest sealed offers, with Philip Apostolides, co-founder of Robey Warshaw, pressing the button of the American cable giant.
Minutes later, the repurchase authorities issued a statement on their website. Comcast delivered a coup de grâce with a bid of 17.28 pounds per share, easily exceeding the 15.67 pounds offered by Fox.
In the minutes following the release, Roberts, 59, had called Gilbert to get the council's recommendation. At the same time, Sky's independent directors held a meeting, although reaching consensus was quick: they recommended shareholders to accept Comcast's offer.
The atmosphere was relaxed in Isleworth, Sky's team having held no immediate celebration. (Investors were more jubilant, sending shares of the British broadcaster rising 9% to 17.24 pounds Monday morning.)
Next steps
Meanwhile, at Stafford, the mood of Comcast executives – advised by bankers from Evercore Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. and Robey Warshaw – was more relieved than celebration after a tense final hour. The handshakes and the five years were followed within 20 minutes by a conference call to chart the next steps.
Roberts clearly takes no chances: the cable tycoon should also meet with Sky management and major investors in the coming days. And Comcast is actively buying Sky shares in the open market, rather than waiting for the October 11 results of the takeover bid.
Back at Skyberia on Saturday night, the headquarters was largely emptied within the hour following the final verdict. At 8:35 pm, Darroch sent an e-mail note to his staff with the words maybe greetings: "It's over now."
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