Virgin Media Inc received a buyout offer worth as much as US$11.35 billion, people familiar with the deal said on Monday, sending shares in the British telecommunications company to a new one-year high.
Underscoring the delicate nature of the proposal, Virgin Media would not name its suitor and said the deal would be scrapped if it even disclosed the potential terms.
The offer of between US$30 to US$35 per share was made by the Carlyle Group, a Washington-based private-equity firm, said people who spoke on the condition that they not be identified because they were not authorized to do so publicly. Virgin also has roughly £6 billion (US$12.1 billion) of debt.
Virgin Media would say only that the offer came after it began a review with Goldman Sachs to explore "strategic alternatives," including a possible sale. Despite being formally based in New York and listed on NASDAQ, the company's operations are in the UK.
Virgin Media said "there is no assurance that any transaction will occur or, if so, at what price."
The company said it does not plan to comment further until a deal is reached or the offer is dropped.
Shares of Virgin Media jumped 18.4 percent, or US$4.48, to US$28.85 in afternoon trading.
The aggregation of cable operators NTL Inc and Telewest and the mobile operator Virgin Mobile, the company reported its seventh consecutive quarterly loss in May after subscribers defected to rival satellite service BSkyB.
Thomas Eagan, a media analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, said going private could make Virgin Media more competitive. The company wouldn't have to publicly disclose its operating and financial figures, he said, and would be less constrained in terms of marketing, customer service and programming costs.
Other cable operators, such as Insight Communications Inc and Cox Communications Inc in the US, have gone private in recent years.
"Private equity has shown that it likes cable stocks," Eagan said. "Here's one that's trading at a pretty low multiple versus US cable stocks with a high cash flow yield compared to US cable stocks."
Virgin Media was formed to create Britain's first "quadruple play" service, offering mobile phone, fixed-line phone, Internet broadband and TV services. It has struggled, however, to provide solid services across all four platforms and recently invested substantially in revamping its customer service.
Virgin Media stopped airing basic BSkyB channels, dropping popular US programs such as Lost and 24 as the result of a battle over fees during negotiations to renew a distribution agreement.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source