Comcast’s auction win lands Sky (SKY) boss £50m. American cable giant sees off 21st Century Fox. Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive, is in line to receive £50 million after the sale of the satellite broadcaster to Comcast for more than £30 billion. America’s largest cable television provider prevailed this weekend in a protracted takeover struggle against 21st Century Fox, which already owns 39% of Sky and was bidding with Disney’s backing to take full control. A rare three-round auction process ended on Saturday evening with Comcast bidding £17.28 per share, compared with Fox’s final offer of £15.67 per share.
RBS action group faces police review. A group set up to sue the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) over its £12 billion rights issue in 2008 could be investigated by police. The Ministry of Justice is preparing to hand a dossier of information on the RBS Shareholder Action Group, founded by Gerard Walsh, an Irish businessman, to City of London Police. The force, which is responsible for policing London’s financial district and which investigates financial fraud, said that it would review the documents and could launch an investigation. The news was first reported by The Mail on Sunday.
Mike Ashley has named the first three House of Fraser department stores to be earmarked for closure since his group bought the chain. The retail billionaire blamed “greedy” landlords for the likely demise of the Frasers store in Edinburgh and House of Fraser branches in Hull and Swindon. Consultation with staff is continuing in all three stores. Sports Direct bought House of Fraser out of administration in August and said that it intended to save at least 80% of its 59 department stores. Before administration 31 stores had been due to close under a company voluntary agreement with lenders.
Allied Minds prompts more questions about Woodford’s investments. Neil Woodford’s investment style looks set to come under fresh scrutiny this week as one of the fund manager’s most disastrous holdings reports its half-year results. Shares in Allied Minds (ALM), a Boston-based technology incubator, have lost 90% of their value since they peaked at 725p in April 2015 as doubts emerged about the prospects of some of the companies in its portfolio.
Drax seeks shift in power with Scottish Power plants. Drax Group (DRX) is in talks to buy Scottish Power’s gas and hydroelectric power plants in its latest attempt to diversify beyond its main North Yorkshire power plant. The FTSE 250 energy company derives the vast majority of its profits from Britain’s biggest power station, but it is trying to broaden its business. It confirmed a Sunday Telegraph report that it was in talks with Iberdrola, Scottish Power’s owner, over “a potential acquisition of a UK portfolio of pumped storage, renewable hydro and gas-fired generation assets”. It said that any deal would be “fully debt-funded and subject to shareholder approval”.
