TPG pays HK$1.66b for Murdoch unit Star’s Phoenix stake
Rupert Murdoch hastens exit from China media sector with sale of 12.15 per cent stake in Phoenix Satellite Television
US private equity firm TPG Capital will pay HK$1.66 billion (US$213.73 million) for 21st Century Fox-controlled Star Entertainment’s remaining stake in a Chinese satellite television operator.
The move is the next step of Rupert Murdoch’s slow exit from Chinese media, following News Corp’s sale of controlling stakes in three mainland television channels to domestic private equity funds in 2010.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late on Friday, Phoenix Satellite Television said TPG China Media LP will become a “substantial shareholder” after taking over Star’s entire 12.15 per cent stake.
With the sale, Star representatives will also step down from Phoenix’s board.
The deal was announced on the same day Murdoch was re-elected chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox Incorporated despite protests from shareholder groups who sought to separate the chairman and chief executive positions of the family-dominated company.
Murdoch split News Corp into two companies in May, with News Corp retaining the newspaper and other media assets and Fox holding the movie, TV and other entertainment properties.
