Shareholder Aegon says Murdoch offer undervalues BSkyB

Aegon's Stephen Adams believes News Corp will need to increase its BSkyB takeover bid to more than £9 per share, saying the current offer underestimates the earnings potential of the broadcaster.

BSkyB, which has seen its share price rocket about 20% today, received a 700p a share offer from the Rupert Murdoch-led conglomerate, valuing the UK broadcaster at about $11.5bn. News Corp already owns 39.1% of the FTSE 100 group. Aegon, which owns about 1.3% of BSkyB, bought into the group about a year ago. "We purchased BSkyB at a time when we were moving into those stocks which offered strong secular growth," Adams, the group's head of UK equities, says. "BSkyB has invested well in development of HD and programming for example and we think is on the cusp of reaping the rewards. ...