US cable operator Comcast is seeking new financing to launch an all-cash bid for the media assets that 21st Century Fox has agreed to sell to Disney, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The expansion in its media assets is seen as an effort to compete with AT&T, if the latter is successful in its takeover of Time Warner.
According to the report, Comcast will only proceed with the rival bid if AT&T's takeover receives competition clearance. Fox and Disney earlier disclosed that another bidder had approached Fox, but was rejected due to regulatory concerns. This is widely thought to be Comcast.
Comcast already owns the broadcaster NBC, Universal Pictures and several cable channels and has launched a bid to acquire the European pay-TV group Sky, in which Fox is the biggest shareholder and for which Fox also planned a full takeover. Comcast would bid for the same media assets that Disney plans to acquire, including Fox’s film and TV production and international businesses. The Fox broadcast network in the US and cable channels are excluded.
Fox agreed the takeover by Disney at USD 29.54 per share, in an all-stock deal. Its regulatory filings show that the other rejected bid was worth USD 34.41 per share, or a total USD 66 billion. It was unclear how much Comcast's new bid would be worth, but according to the Reuters report the company was seeking USD 60 billion in bridge financing.
All the companies declined to comment on the report.
