John Malone’s US group Liberty Media intends to spin-off its cable assets into a new, publicly-traded company called Liberty Broadband.
The news follows Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) announcing subscriber divestments to get their merger past…
John Malone’s US group Liberty Media intends to spin-off its cable assets into a new, publicly-traded company called Liberty Broadband.
The news follows Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) announcing subscriber divestments to get their merger past regulators that would see Charter Communications – controlled by Liberty – become the second-largest cableco in the US.
Liberty Broadband would house Liberty’s 26.4% controlling stake in Charter, and indirectly control Charter’s future one-third stake in SpinCo; a new cableco set to be created by Comcast that will hold 2.5 million divested subscribers.
Speaking on a conference call yesterday Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said it makes sense to spin-off businesses that can stand alone and trade well alone. He added that a pure cableco would find it easier to raise capital.
Given Comcast was unlikely to be able to add more systems, Charter would likely become the “natural acquirer of pretty much any cable asset that gets sold” in the US.
He added that all of Liberty’s cable activities would be made easier by having a separately tradable stock for the assets.
The spin-off is set to be completed by the end of the year.
