News Corp. Ups Sky Germany Stake

NEW YORK: News Corporation has increased its ownership stake in German pay-TV giant Sky Deutschland from 30.5 percent to 39.96 percent.

News Corp. has been steadily increasing its investment in the German pay-TV giant, formerly known as Premiere, since first acquiring a 14.58-percent interest in January 2008. A month later the stake was increased to 19.9 percent, and then in April News Corp. upped its interest to 22.7 percent. In May, the stake rose to 25.01 percent.

At the beginning of this year, News Corp. received an exception from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) from the requirement to make a mandatory public offer for the platform in the event its share topped 30 percent. And then in April, News Corp. shelled out 115 million euros to increase its stake to 30.5 percent following a capital increase. The decision to rebrand from Premiere to Sky Deutschland was made the following month, in line with News Corp.’s other pay-TV investments around the world.