John Malone M&A cleanup costs minority investors

Liberty Broadband

14/11/2024 14:51

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Jonathan Guilford
       NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The famed
cable dealmaker’s empire is reshaping itself, as giant Charter
strikes a $13 bln agreement for Liberty Broadband. It’s mostly
about the buyer getting back a lump of its own shares, at an 11%
discount. The transaction is great for everyone except selling
shareholders.
    
    Full view will be published shortly.
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    CONTEXT NEWS
    U.S. cable operator Charter Communications on Nov. 13
announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Liberty
Broadband. The seller owns a 26% stake in Charter on a fully
diluted basis, a 16.5% stake in media data analysis company
Comscore, and all of Alaska-based cable provider GCI.
    Liberty Broadband investors are set to receive 0.236 Charter
shares for each of their shares, while also receiving spun-out
subsidiary GCI. The deal is conditional on approval of
shareholders other than John Malone and insiders, who
collectively control a majority of Liberty Broadband.

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Liberty Broadband stock had sagged below Charter's    https://reut.rs/3AG6zDe
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 (Editing by Rob Cyran and Pranav Kiran)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  GUILFORD/  
Jonathan.Guilford@thomsonreuters.com))