Despite a drop in shares across the FTSE 100, ITV ended yesterday up 1.2% to 105.25p, with analysts citing the rumoured takeover by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which Labour peer Lord Hollick is managing director of, as a key factor.
During the day, around 55m ITV shares changed hands and at one point the price rose to a high of 107.25p. This morning ITV shares had edged up again to 106.25p.
It is rumoured that KKR is to table a £5.8bn bid for the firm, which amounts to 140p a share, and will keep the broadcasting business, but sell on its Granada production business.
Another option is to merge it with European broadcasting firm SBS Broadcasting, which it owns and operates in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Belgium, Romania and Denmark.
Lord Hollick has a strong track record in commercial broadcasting, having run Meridian, Anglia and held a stake in Five, which was finally sold by United to majority shareholder RTL.
This latest rumour of a takeover follows a rejected bid in March made by a consortium of investors, fronted by former BBC chairman Greg Dyke and involving Apax Partners, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs.
ITV said the deal would have left the broadcaster with a debt of £3.5bn and was "unduly risky".
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