Time Warner Cable Says No Thanks to Charter's $61 Billion Bid Charter Communications hoped to purchase Time Warner Cable for $61.3 billion, or $132.50 a share, but the 'grossly inadequate' bid was rejected.
This story originally appeared on CNBC
Time Warner Cable's board of directors rejected a bid by Charter Communications Monday afternoon. In a statement, Time Warner Cable's board described the proposal as "grossly inadequate."
Charter proposed to buy Time Warner Cable for about $61.3 billion, or $132.50 a share, Bloomberg News reported.
"We are the only large pure-play, non-family controlled cable operator in the United States, with 15 million customers in some of the country's best markets," said Rob Marcus, CEO of Time Warner Cable, in the statement. "We are not seeking to sell the company, but consistent with what we have always said about maximizing shareholder value, on December 27 we made it clear to Charter that our board is open to a transaction with Charter at a price of $160 per TWC share, consisting of $100 in cash and $60 per share of Charter common stock, subject to a symmetrical 20 percent collar to protect our shareholders...."
The Charter offer included about $49.50 in Charter stock and $83 cash per share of Time Warner Cable, Tom Rutledge, Charter's chief executive, said in a Bloomberg interview. The bid is the third-largest for any global company since 2009, the news site reported.
Charter "has made repeated overtures to Time Warner Cable on this topic for more than six months," the company said in the press release. But until December Time Warner Cable did not engage to find out more. The Monday afternoon letter to Time Warner Cable did not include the price.
Goldman Sachs and LionTree Advisors have been Charter's lead financial advisers on their proposed transaction. Charter plans to host a conference call on Tuesday, Jan. 14th at 4.30 p.m. ET, the company said.
