Cable group Liberty Global and PE firm Searchlight Capital Partners have agreed to acquire Choice Cable TV, Puerto Rico’s second-largest cable and broadband services provider, for US$272.5m.
As part of the deal, Choice will be merged with Liberty…
Cable group Liberty Global and PE firm Searchlight Capital Partners have agreed to acquire Choice Cable TV, Puerto Rico’s second-largest cable and broadband services provider, for US$272.5m.
As part of the deal, Choice will be merged with Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico. The combined entity, which according to Liberty will become the island’s largest cableco, will be 60%-owned by the cable group while the remaining shares will be held by the financial sponsor.
The acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of 2015 subject to regulatory approvals, will be funded with debt. LionTree Advisors advised on the deal.
Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said: “Upon completion, our network will reach over 80% of Puerto Rican homes, and the combined business will serve more than 700,000 RGUs and generate over US$380m of annual revenue.
“Additionally, this will be the first new asset in our anticipated tracking stock for our businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
In late October, Liberty, which is controlled by US billionaire John Malone, announced that it would set up a tracking stock for its Latin American and Caribbean subsidiaries which will effectively split the cable giant into two “pure-play” media stocks.
The London-headquartered triple-play player has operations in 14 countries, mainly in Europe, and 24 million subscribers as of 30 June 2014. Its subsidiaries include Virgin Media, UPC, Unitymedia Kabel BW, Telenet and Ziggo.
