News Corp completes $815.3M sale of Sky TV stake

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp completed the $815.3 million sale of its stake in local pay-TV operator Sky Network Television.

The global media empire slated for a demerger along publishing and broadcasting lines later this year sold its 44 percent stake in Sky TV at $4.80 a share in an underwritten placement to institutional investors. Sky TV today said the sale has been completed.

A trading halt on the shares put in place for the sale has now been lifted. The stock last changed hands at $5.17 on Friday.

Murdoch's exit from the pay-TV firm comes four months after New Zealand's billionaire Todd family sold its 11 percent stake for $218 million at $5.05 a share. That was a discount of 5.8 percent at the time. News took the cornerstone stake in Sky TV via a merger with Independent News Ltd in 2005.

The stock is rated an average 'outperform' based on nine analyst recommendations compiled by Reuters, with a median target price of $5.535.

Last week, the New Zealand pay-TV operator reported a 9 percent lift in first-half profit to $68.2 million, with a total subscriber base at 846,988.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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