BSkyB Raise GBP1.36 Billion Via Share Placing to Part Fund Proposed Acquisitions

LONDON--British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (BSY.LN) said Friday it has completed the placing of ordinary shares to raise 1.36 billion pounds ($2.32 billion), to part fund proposed acquisitions.

The U.K.'s market-leading pay-television operator said a total of 156.1 million new ordinary shares in BSkyB have been placed by Barclays Bank PLC, acting through its investment bank and Morgan Stanley Securities Ltd. at a price of 870 pence per placing share.

Earlier Friday, BSkyB said it agreed to acquire its sister companies in Germany and Italy from 21st Century Fox in a deal worth just over $9 billion, the majority in cash, to create a pan-European pay-TV giant with around 20 million customers across Germany, Italy, Austria, the U.K. and Ireland.

The deal which will be funded through cash, new shares and debt, is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

21st Century Fox was until June 2013 part of the same company as News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

BSkyB shares at 1420 GMT traded down 46 pence, or 4.9%, at 879 pence, valuing the company at GBP13.75 billion.

-Write to Razak Musah Baba at [e-mail]; Twitter: @Raztweet

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