im suprised no one posted this followup, so here it is.
also, people seem to be forgetting branson has a massive long time obsession with TV, so it seems he will keep some shares back/swap, and not forgetting he's got a lot invested in his Virgin brand with this one, and would, i think, have hopes to take the lead from US based burch and Co.
after all, you would think at least branson knows the score with the UK markets far better than the current US based board and upper management for a long time now, perhaps any takeover collective would pay branson more money to take a far more involved position in the boardroom.... perhaps even run it in some way?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle2013297.ece
"
From The Times
July 1, 2007
Branson response paves way for $10bn buyout of Virgin Media
Elizabeth Judge, Telecoms Correspondent
Sir
Richard Branson, Virgin Media’s biggest shareholder,
is open to a buyout of the cable group, paving the way for a potential deal at $10 billion (£4.9 billion) or more.
As The Times revealed on Saturday, Carlyle, the private equity group, is circling the television and telecoms group. The interest has kicked off an auction process in which
Sir Richard, whose Virgin Group holds 10.5 per cent of the $8 billion Virgin Media, will play a critical role.
City sources said that Sir Richard was willing to weigh up any offer.
It is believed that potentially he could seek to roll over some of his stake into a new entity. It is not clear at this stage what size of stake the billionaire entrepreneur would retain. Virgin Group declined to comment yesterday.
The latest negotiations for the communications group — whose turbulent history included a life-saving restructuring in 2002 — are believed to centre on a price above the $30 per share that was informally pitched to Virgin Media by a consortium of private equity players last year. A $30-a-share bid equates to an equity value of about $10 billion.
That previous approach, by players including Providence Equity Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Cinven, failed to result in a deal because of opposition from key shareholders in Virgin Media, including
Bill Huff, the influential New Jersey
hedge fund owner. Today Mr Huff is far lower down the group’s share register, with only 4.9 per cent.
In addition,
a key Huff ally, William Connors, who used to work with him in his hedge-fund business, recently stepped down from the cable group’s board after claims that Mr Huff had too much influence.
The latest takeover attempt comes after disappointment that the merger last year of NTL:Telewest
and Virgin Mobile has failed to create the formidable force in home entertainment that had been hoped for. Since the deal the group has struggled to show the benefits and its Nasdaq-listed shares closed on Friday at $24.37.
Despite a £25 million branding campaign featuring the Hollywood actress Uma Thurman, the group lost nearly 47,000 customers in the first quarter of this year and became embroiled in a protracted legal dispute with BSkyB, in which News Corporation, the parent company of The Times, has a 39.1 per cent stake.
The continued failure to fulfil its perceived potential has put pressure on Stephen Burch, Virgin Media’s chief executive. "...
---------- Post added at 04:00 ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by grabbi
A Yank takeover is what this company needs.
The US number one supplier of TV and Broadband is Cable, so they would have more expertise than anyone in the world, especially in VM.
They need to import some techniques from the USA to free up Bandwidth and so on, and offer more stuff.
---------- Post added at 00:15 ---------- Previous post was at 00:02 ----------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm...chester_United
|
to all intents and purposes, it already is a yank run company, a long distance one at that, as the current US based VM board dont ever come here for any general board/invester meetings....
its also one of the key reasons why they are currently investing in effect, dead money, into the current VM V+ Mpeg2/liberate only STBs from the US old boys club and contracts, were everyone else in the EU (and indeed most of the world now)are investing in combined Mpeg2/AVC Wireless IP STB's, and current/future expandable middleware.
you also seem to be under the impression that the current US cable operators are in some way using better hardware?, thats a miss-understanding perhaps..., as its clear after reading several US based threads around, that much of the current US cable are at best using even older Docsis1.0 , not even 1.1 as current VM do, never mind 2.0 or the newest 3.0.
theres also a MASSIVE difference between man U and VM, VM are in in hole, MUFC was not and infact have masses of cashflow.
still Carlyle etc have many profitable businesses so VM is still a good buy for them as they can just offset their income tax bills against the VM losses and end up paying far less tax overall..... never under estimate or forget that part of any takeover along side the asset stripping everyone seems to be focusing on at the minute.
---------- Post added at 05:05 ---------- Previous post was at 04:00 ----------
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/be3d86ca-283...b5df10621.html
"
Virgin Media board considers going private
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnsonin London
Published: July 2 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 2 2007 03:00
The board of Virgin Media
is considering taking the UK cable company private, after an approach from Carlyle Group raised the prospect of a $10bn sale, less than a year after another private equity approach was rebuffed.
The change of attitude comes after a bruising battle for customers in the UK's highly competitive pay-TV, broadband and telephony markets coincided with changes in the shareholder base, which could make a bid more likely to succeed now than last year.
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which owns 10.5 per cent of the shares, is said to be "supportive" of a sale to private equity, after negotiating a "collar and cuff" arrangement last month.
This deal allowed the group to borrow about $225m against its holding in exchange for an agreement to pay Credit Suisse a share of the gains
if the stock rises above $31.98.
Any bidder would have to buy out or work in partnership with Virgin Group, which has a 30-year exclusive branding agreement, with a 10-year opt-out clause, for use of the Virgin name.
Both Virgin Media and Virgin Group declined to comment.
Bill Huff, the distressed debt investor who was seen to have stood in the way of an approach last year by Providence Equity Partners, Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Cinven, has been reducing his stake, and his board representation is no longer seen as a likely obstacle.
W.R. Huff Asset Management is still Virgin Media's fourth largest shareholder but has seen its shareholding drop to 4.9 per cent from about 6.7 per cent a year ago.
Providence is also understood to be considering a new bid for the company. Virgin Media, chaired by Jim Mooney, is understood to have instructed Goldman Sachs to examine whether to take the company private after its much-publicised battles with British Sky Broadcasting, its satellite rival, and declining market share in the first quarter weighed on its share price."...
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