Taiwan’s Wei family, which owns a large food business and some telecoms assets, will reportedly acquire a majority stake in the island’s largest cable TV operator, China Network Systems (CNS), for US$2.4bn.
The deal was agreed with private equity…
Taiwan’s Wei family, which owns a large food business and some telecoms assets, will reportedly acquire a majority stake in the island’s largest cable TV operator, China Network Systems (CNS), for US$2.4bn.
The deal was agreed with private equity firm MBK Partners, which holds 60% of CNS, and the price tag includes debt, according to multiple reports citing people familiar with the matter.
The companies were not immediately available for comment.
Morgan Stanley reportedly advised MBK while the Wei family mandated UBS. The deal requires approval from Taiwanese regulators.
The Wei family, which controls Hong Kong-listed food and beverage group Tingyi, has been accelerating its diversification into the telecoms sector. Its 4G mobile operator, Taiwan Star, bought rival Vibo Telecom a few months back.
An executive with Ting Hsin International Group, Tingyi’s parent, was quoted telling Reuters that digital convergence is “the future for us”, adding that the Wei family hopes to create an environment where 4G services and cable TV businesses can work together.
A few other companies had reportedly circled CNS in recent months, including local wireless player Far EasTone and device manufacturer Foxconn.
Foxconn eventually snapped up local telco Asia Pacific Telecom (APT), which had also been a potential target for Ting Hsin.
Last summer, MBK was said to have hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for a business trust IPO of CNS worth US$1bn but later abandoned the plans.
In 2010, the firm had also looked to sell its stake in the cable TV operator, which has more than one million subscribers, to food manufacturer Want Want Group for US$2.4bn. However, local regulators blocked the deal because Want Want already owned Chung T’ien Television and China Television.
