By Ben Glickman
Charter Communications on Wednesday agreed to acquire its largest shareholder Liberty Broadband in an all-stock deal, completing a back-and-forth negotiation meant to simplify the companies' linked structure.
The Stamford, Conn., parent company of Spectrum cable and internet said it would retire the shares owned by Liberty and reissue some stock, resulting in a decrease of about 11.5 million shares of the company. Liberty also as part of the deal agreed to spin off its GCI subsidiary, an Alaskan communications provider, via a distribution to stockholders.
Billionaire media mogul John Malone is chair of Liberty Broadband and is the largest individual shareholder in the company. Liberty took a $2.62 billion stake in Charter, worth about 27% of the company at the time, in 2013.
The companies said that holders of Liberty common stock would receive 0.236 shares of Charter for each share of Liberty. The deal is expected to close on June 30, 2027, the companies said, subject to the completion of Liberty's GCI spinoff and other conditions.
Charter will also assume responsibility for Liberty's some $2.6 billion in existing debt, excluding debt at GCI.
The companies said Malone and other holders, together representing 48% of the voting power at Liberty, had agreed to vote in favor of the merger.
Liberty in September said it had submitted a counterproposal to Charter Communications over a potential merger. That proposal would have given Liberty shareholders 0.29 shares of Charter common stock per share.
Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2024 09:02 ET (14:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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