NWS News Corporation

By Stu Woo 

LONDON -- Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday that it had taken a 1.09% stake in Sky PLC, which could further complicate 21st Century Fox Inc.'s $16.6 billion effort to consolidate ownership of the British pay-TV giant.

Elliott, founded by Paul Singer, is known for its activist campaigns against giant companies, and for getting involved in deals and holding them up to get the price bumped. It was unclear whether the fund was taking an active or passive position in Sky.

An Elliott spokeswoman and Sky spokesman didn't immediately return requests for comment Friday night. A Fox spokesman declined to comment.

Elliott's disclosure comes as Fox tries to wrap up its latest attempt to buy the 61% of Sky it doesn't already own. Fox launched the bid in December 2016, but regulatory delays have stalled the deal. Most recently, British regulators in a preliminary ruling on Tuesday suggested that Fox would need to make concessions to win government approval.

That comes as Walt Disney Co. tries to buy major Fox assets, including its 39% stake in Sky, which it eyes as one of deal's jewels.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his family are major shareholders in Fox and in News Corp, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Fox has said it expects its acquisition of Sky to close by June. British regulators are expected to deliver final recommendations in May to the British government, which would then decide to approve the deal outright, approve it with conditions or reject it.

If the government approves the deal, then Fox's offer must win support from at least 75% of Sky shareholders, excluding Fox's stake. Some shareholders have argued that Fox's offer, of GBP10.75 ($15.23) per share, was too low.

Sky stock closed at GBP10.48 a share on Friday, indicating some uncertainty that Fox's deal would be successful.

Ben Dummett contributed to this article.

Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2018 19:02 ET (00:02 GMT)

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