Charter’s TWC bid rejected

Time Warner Cable has rejected a US$61bn bid from Liberty Global-backed Charter Communications, labeling the offer price “grossly inadequate.”

Charter had offered US$37.3bn – at US$132.50 a share – to buy the firm. Including debt, the deal is worth around US$61bn and TWC shareholders would get 45% ownership in the combined company.

However, TWC accused Charter of trying to buy it for a “bargain price.”

“In essence, these guys are just trying to get a premium asset at a bargain basement price,” Rob Marcus, CEO of TWC was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“This makes the job of fending it off rather straightforward. Our shareholders will see it as what it is, an attempt to steal the company.”

Charter, backed by American billionaire John Malone, said it had made previous offers to buy TWC over the past six months, but had been rebuffed.

“They came back to us with a design to be dismissive,” Tom Rutledge, CEO of Charter, said. “They have not engaged with us. All of the conversations have been one-way,” he added.

If the takeover was to go ahead, it would be the biggest in the sector since 2002, when Comcast acquired AT&T’s cable-internet division in a US$30bn deal.

Last December, Liberty Global made another approach to buy cable TV provider Ziggo, after its previous bid was also labelled “inadequate” by the Dutch company.