Virgin Media Back In Private Equity Game?

The UK newspaper The Observer is reporting that it has seen a new memo outlining possible private equity approaches to Virgin Media. VMED has been a rumored private target for some time and it is generally accepted that private equity made an offer in upper $20s or low $30s over a year ago. VMED is […]

Virgin Media Delays Sale

Virgin Media announced that it was delaying the sale of the company. The brief press release indicated that financial and strategic buyers continue to express interest but unfavorable debt market conditions make delaying a sale in shareholders best interests. On July 2nd, Virgin Media received a proposal to take the company private. The buyer was […]

Virgin Media Takeover Speculation Revived

As I noted last week, it seemed possible that Virgin Media (VMED) might be back in the crosshairs of private equity when one of its largest shareholders, Franklin Mutual Advisers, indicated that it wanted to meet with management and other shareholders regarding the poor performance of the company. My guess appears to have been accurate […]

Virgin Media Shareholder Speaks Out

In an SEC filing yesterday, Franklin Mutual Advisers indicated that it is seeking talks with management and other shareholders of Virgin Media (VMED) in light of VMED’s recently released first quarter results. Franklin owns 9.8% of VMED but has only modestly added to its position recently according to the filing. Here is the key passage […]

NTL Bidding For ITV: A Bad Idea

Shares of NTL Incorporated got a well deserved 5% spanking yesterday after last week’s rumors of the company’s interest in a takeover of leading UK broadcaster ITV apparently turned into reality. UK newspapers are reporting that NTL will offer about $9 billion for ITV or roughly 13 times 2007 EBITDA estimates. NTLI shares are now […]

NTL Likely To Limp Along Awaiting Success of Virgin Rebranding

NTL Incorporated (NTLI) reported mixed 3Q results yesterday. I feel the details are worse than the optimistic tone management had used during several recent Wall Street appearances but I understand why the market did not seem concerned. NTLI reported flat revenue growth and low single digit growth in EBITDA in its core consumer cable operations. […]

Volatility in NTL On Recent News

NTL Incorporated (NTLI) shares have sold off the last few days, giving back most of the gains achieved after several management presentations at media conferences in the US during September. Investors responded favorably to the presentations in which management indicated that 3Q06 results would be satisfactory. This was welcome news following published reports of the […]

Thoughts on NTL Management Presentation

NTL Incorporated (NTLI) CEO Stephen Burch made a presentation at Jefferies 4th Annual Communications Conference. The company made no comments and took no questions related to the status of negotiations with private equity firms over the possible takeover of NTLI. Based on press reports there is clearly something going on related to private equity. Whether […]

NTL Sees Renewed Interest From Private Equity Firms

News broke yesterday in London that NTL Incorporated (NTLI) was again subject to takeover interest from private equity firms. Later in the day, Bloomberg reported that the company was in talks with a consortium of four private equity firms and the talks were beginning to focus on price. I covered these developments in two posts […]

NTL: Not Bad But Could Have Been Better

I’d classify the 2Q06 earnings and conference call from NTL Incorporated as mixed. Mixed is not quite good enough for the short-term as that means there some issues. For NTLI shares to jump over the low expectations built into the stock, a clean quarter is required. I don’t think we will get that until 4Q06 […]