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LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - Shares in Sky rose 5 percent onMonday, topping the FTSE 100 leaderboard, after a media reportsaid the Murdoch family had rebuffed two offers for their 39percent stake in the pan-European pay-TV group.
French media conglomerate Vivendi, the owner ofpay-TV group Canal+, was considering a potential acquisition ofSky, Reuters said in April.
The Sunday Telegraph said Vincent Bollore, the biggestshareholder in Vivendi, held informal talks with the Murdochs inthe spring, citing financial industry sources.
However, the Murdochs wanted 18 pounds ($28.54) a share fortheir stake, controlled by 21st Century Fox, a morethan 70 percent premium, the newspaper said.
It also said mobile group Vodafone made an informalapproach to the Murdochs last year about a deal, but did notpursue the talks after the family demanded a similar premium.
An offer by Vodafone would make less sense as Sky does notown its own superfast fibre network. Vodafone has bought fibrenetworks in Germany and Spain and is looking to expand thisinfrastructure.
Sky's shares were up 4.4 percent at 1,084 pence at 0736 GMT,giving the group a market capitalisation of 18.6 billion pounds.
Analysts at Liberum said the claim that the talks broke downover price indicted the Murdochs were not averse to theprinciple of selling the stake.
They also said that a Fox bid for the rest of Sky was nowless likely as "it would be hard for Fox to argue that Vivendishould pay 18 pounds a share for Sky without offering a similaramount to other shareholders, and we do not see Fox doing this."
($1 = 0.6308 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Louise Heavens)
