UK pay-television broadcaster Sky is set to assume full control of Sky Deutschland, which operates in Germany and Austria.
Sky Deutschland’s shareholders yesterday (Wednesday) approved the request by majority shareholder Sky German Holdings to transfer the shares of minority stakeholders and remove the company from the German stock exchange.
The shares of the minority shareholders will be transferred to Sky German Holdings against a cash compensation of €6.68 ($7.36) per share. At Wednesday’s extraordinary general meeting, 96.97 per cent of Sky Deutschland’s share capital was represented, with 99.4 per cent voting in favour of the measure.
Sky in February revealed plans to initiate the necessary steps for the transfer of the remaining minority shareholdings in Sky Deutschland to take full ownership of the broadcaster, which covers a variety of major sports properties.
Sky German Holdings previously held 96.05 per cent of Sky Deutschland’s shares, with 3.95 per cent in a free float on the German stock exchange.
In November, BSkyB announced that it would be renamed Sky after completing a takeover of Sky Italia in Italy and acquiring a majority stake in Sky Deutschland.
The deal brought together leading sports broadcasters in three of Europe’s four largest pay-television markets.