Sky plc has agreed to a takeover by 21st Century Fox. The UK-based home entertainment and communications company made the announcement less than a week after Fox's renewed bid interest surfaced after a previous deal was withdrawn in 2011.
The terms of the formal offer, being recommended by an independent committee of directors at Sky, would mean Fox paying £11.7bn (€14bn), or £10.75 per share, for the 61% of Sky it does not already own.
That represents a 40% premium on the closing price of Sky shares on 6 December.
21st Century Fox said: "The strategic rationale for this combination is clear.
"It creates a global leader in content creation and distribution, enhances our sports and entertainment scale, and gives us unique and leading direct-to-consumer capabilities and technologies.
"It adds the strength of the Sky brand to our portfolio, including the Fox, National Geographic and Star brands."
The 2011 bid was abandoned during Newscorp's phone-hacking scandal.
Rupert Murdoch's son, James, is the chief executive of Fox and the chairman of Sky.
