INL lifts Sky offer

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 24th May 2001

Independent Newspapers has raised the top of its price range for accumulating further Sky TV shares.

The publisher wants to take its holding in the pay-TV company to 66% from the current 49%, and plans to buy Todd Capital's entire 11% stake.

If is offering shares on a one for one basis as consideration and has also issued a second restricted transfer notice to buy between 5% and 6% more of the company in a range between $3.30 and $3.60 per share.

An appraisal report into the offer claimed the terms of the RTN are unfair, with the price range below the current market price.

"It should be recognised that the price paid under the proposed Restricted Transfer will be less than the full underlying value of Sky TV shares that might be reflected in the price paid in a full takeover offer and shareholders who choose to sell will be forgoing the potential to receive this value," the report stated.

However the report also noted that INL effectively already had control of Sky TV with a shareholding of 49.9%.

It said with the planned purchase of a further 11% of Sky TV from Todd Communications, it was open to debate whether the proposed offer price needs to be equal to the full underlying value to be fair.

INL has now increased its offer to between $3.30 and $4.00 per share, taking the upper limit higher by 40 cents.

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