Carlyle offer for Virgin Media

Source: Stock Market Digital

Date :02/07/2007 04:24:56

NASDAQ listed cable TV company Virgin Media is considering an offer of $33 per share from Carlyle, one of the world's leading private equity groups.

Virgin Media, which has 9 million customers and a £4 billion ($8.034 billion) annual turnover, has asked its advisors Goldman Sachs to report on whether going private would be a viable option for the company.

Carlyle’s offer would value Virgin Media at about £5.6 ($11.25 billion) billion and if successful would become the second biggest takeover of a British business by private equity, after Boots. However Goldman has been asked to consider an ‘auction’ of the business to discover whether other investment houses might be prepared to offer even more for Britain’s largest cable operator – this process is expected to last for around six weeks.

Sir Richard Branson, who controls 10.5 percent of the shares through his Virgin Group is said to want to retain his stake in the company under any new arrangement.