Bskyb is to buy Alan Sugar's consumer electronics company Amstrad for £125 million in cash.
The 150-pence-a-share deal will net around £34.5 million for Sugar, who founded Amstrad in 1968 and has more recently found fame on TV reality show The Apprentice.
Bskyb said on Tuesday it was offering a 23.7 per cent premium to Amstrad's closing share price on Monday and that it was buying a company that supplies around 30 per cent of its set-top boxes.
It said the deal would give it greater control over product design and technical specifications, allow it to accelerate the development of new products and reduce procurement costs.
The deal is also expected to boost earnings this financial year, Bskyb said.
It said Sugar, chairman and chief executive of Amstrad, would continue to lead the business as part of Bskyb.
