BSkyB completes acquisitions

BSkyB completes acquisition of Sky Italia and 89.71 % of Sky Deutschland

BSkyB has today completed its acquisition of Sky Italia S.r.l and takeover offer for Sky Deutschland AG.

The Company has acquired 89.71% of the share capital of Sky Deutschland, with 87.45% acquired through the offer process and the balance acquired subsequent to the close of the offer acceptance period on 3 November 2014.

The acquisition of Sky Italia was for a total consideration of £2.45 billion, satisfied by approximately £2.07 billion in cash and the balance through the transfer to 21st Century Fox of BSkyB's 21% stake in National Geographic Channel International.

The acquisition of 87.45% of Sky Deutschland through the offer process was for a total consideration of €5.50 billion (representing €6.75 per share), with a further 2.26% being acquired at an average price of €6.20 per share, amounting to €5.63 billion in aggregate.

Completion follows unconditional clearances from the EU and national media authorities; strong independent shareholder support for the transaction with 96% voting in favour; and the successful issuance of £5.8 billion in debt and equity transaction financing on attractive terms.

Both Standard and Poor's and Moody's, the credit rating agencies, have indicated that BSkyB is expected to maintain its investment grade ratings, with Moody's announcing recently that it has revised BSkyB's rating to Baa2.

Ends

Enquiries

Analysts/ Investors:

Ed Steel

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7032 2093

Email: [email protected]

Press:

Alice Macandrew

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7032 4256

Email: [email protected]