News Corp Taking DRM Firm NDS Private In $3.6 Billion Deal
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Saturday, June 28, 2008; 4:07 PM
NDS, the UK-based DRM and conditional access firm which is majority owned by News Corp, is now being taken private: News Corp ( NYSE: NWS). is teaming up with Permira Advisers, the big European private-equity firm for this deal which is worth $3.6 billion. News Corp. will reduce its stake in NDS to 49 percent, from its current level of 72 percent equity and 96 percent of the voting, and Permira will end up as the majority owner. NDS has a market cap of about $800 million. The offer represents a 20.7 percent premium over NDS' Friday closing price of $49.70 a share...NDS is traded on Nasdaq.
News Corp.'s will take about $1.7 billion in cash and debt from this deal. NDS provides DRM tech for set-top boxes, including those used by News Corp.'s satellite-TV services BSKyB Group. It has also expanded into online and mobile DRM services as well. More details on the deal here.
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