21st Century Fox Exits Phoenix

HONG KONG: 21st Century Fox has sold its remaining 12.15-percent interest in Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings to private-equity firm TPG.

In March, the company, through its Star Entertainment Holdings subsidiary, sold a 5.28-percent stake in Phoenix for $92 million. Phoenix operates a portfolio of Mandarin-language channels, including Phoenix Chinese Channel, Phoenix Movie Channel and Phoenix InfoNews Channel. It was launched in 1996 as a joint venture between News Corporation and Liu Changle. 21st Century Fox no longer holds any shares in Phoenix.

Rupert Murdoch has been scaling back on Chinese investments over the last few years. Back in 2010, the company shed a controlling stake in STAR China business to China Media Capital (CMC), a government-backed private-equity fund.