New Zealand's dominant television operator, Sky Network Television Ltd confirmed on Monday that its major shareholder News Corp is to sell its 44 percent stake. It confirmed weekend media reports that brokers Deutsche Bank and Craig Investment Partners would handle the sale of the shares to institutional and retail investors.Sky TV was placed on a trading halt and the disposal of the shares is expected to take two days.Shares in Sky, which has a near monopoly in pay television services in New Zealand, closed on Friday at A$4.14 a share, the stake would be worth about A$700 million ($714 million).Sky offers about 100 television and radio channels and also operates free-to-air channel Prime Television. It also has a joint venture service with the state owned Television New Zealand, Igloo, with a mix of free-to-air and pay content.
News Corporation is a diversified global media company. Shares of NWSA traded higher by 1.16% or $0.335/share to $29.14. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.55 and as high as $24.04. On average, 19309000 shares of NWSA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 13387441.
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