NTL plans cable merger and float

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

Cable and broadcast services company NTL said today it planned a London listing by the year end and a Nasdaq flotation of a new broadcast unit in the next quarter.

Chief executive Barclay Knapp added that talks continued between NTL and the UK's other two main cable companies, Telewest and Cable & Wireless Communications, about consolidation in the sector.

Microsoft, which holds minority stakes in Telewest and NTL, was a key player in negotiations.

Analysts said a single merged entity would suit Microsoft, which has historically bought 5-10% stakes in cable companies and would hold about 12% of a consolidated UK cable entity. They estimate that NTL's plan to offer a less-than-20% stake of its broadcast unit, incorporating its UK and Australian broadcasting services, might raise between $150 million and $300 million.

Knapp said the Nasdaq issue would then form the basis for future debt funding issues and the firm planned expansion of services in continental Europe and would launch a digital cable network on 1 September. He added that the company was targeting 250,000 subscribers in the next 12 months.

NTL wouldn't say whether it would keep its 6.3% stake in Newcastle United.

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