(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)
By Jonathan Guilford
NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The famed cable dealmaker’s empire is reshaping itself, as giant Charter strikes a $13 bln agreement for Liberty Broadband. It’s mostly about the buyer getting back a lump of its own shares, at an 11% discount. The transaction is great for everyone except selling shareholders.
Full view will be published shortly.
Follow @JMAGuilford on X
CONTEXT NEWS
U.S. cable operator Charter Communications on Nov. 13 announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Liberty Broadband. The seller owns a 26% stake in Charter on a fully diluted basis, a 16.5% stake in media data analysis company Comscore, and all of Alaska-based cable provider GCI.
Liberty Broadband investors are set to receive 0.236 Charter shares for each of their shares, while also receiving spun-out subsidiary GCI. The deal is conditional on approval of shareholders other than John Malone and insiders, who collectively control a majority of Liberty Broadband.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Liberty Broadband stock had sagged below Charter's
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Editing by Rob Cyran and Pranav Kiran)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on Jonathan.Guilford@thomsonreuters.com))
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.