As expected NTL sold to UGC

Mr_Man

From the RTE website

M.

crawler

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- NTL Inc. (NTLI) sold its telecommunications business in Ireland to a Morgan Stanley (MWD) affiliate for EUR325 million, which translates to about $416.7 million.

In a press release Monday, NTL said it sold the assets to focus on its U.K. communications and content-distribution operations.

NTL plans to use the proceeds from the asset sale to MS Irish Cable Holdings BV to repay the principal on its senior credit facility. NTL ended 2004 with long-term debt of $5.66 billion.

Morgan Stanley will sell the assets acquired from NTL to UnitedGlobalCom Inc.'s (UCOMA) UPC Ireland BV unit. The sale to UnitedGlobalCom requires regulatory approvals.

This deal will transfer control of the former NTL assets to media mogul John Malone, who serves as chairman of Liberty Media Corp. (L). Liberty owns 53% of UnitedGlobalCom shares, and 90% of its voting shares.

Separately, UnitedGlobalCom confirmed the deal with Morgan Stanley, and said it loaned the funds MS Irish used to purchase NTL's Irish telecommunications business.

Earlier Monday, Liberty Media said it swung to a first-quarter profit of $254 million, or 9 cents a share. The company's first-quarter revenue rose 14% to $2 billion.

Company Web site: http://www.ntl.com; http://www.unitedglobal.com

-Eamon Beltran; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

cgarvey

So what happens if the competition authority decide not to allow the sale to UGC?

crawler

cgarvey wrote:

So what happens if the competition authority decide not to allow the sale to UGC?

Morgan Stanley 'ave bought 'em self a cable co!!!

MDR

1/2 priced all things consider NTL ... what a bunch of tools.

MDR

I smell, smell synergy coming.

bk

cgarvey wrote:

So what happens if the competition authority decide not to allow the sale to UGC?

Well, since UGC has loaned the holding company MS Ireland the money to buy NTL, they actually own it, due to being their sole creditor. If the competition authority turn it down, then MS Ireland would probably just continue running it.

It is very unlikely that the competition authority will turn it down, their has never been any competition between Chorus and NTL and it would be far to expensive for one to rollout cable in the other companies areas. UGC will probably argue that Sky, Freesat, DTT and maybe even IPTV in the future will be strong enough competition.

They will also likely argue that they will increase competition in the phone and bb market.

Nobody expects the competition authority to turn them down, however the whole process just takes time.

Serbian

bk wrote:

It is very unlikely that the competition authority will turn it down, their has never been any competition between Chorus and NTL

What if it was a monopoly?

Solair

Chorus and NTL don't operate as a monopoly really, they're facing incrediably stiff competition from Sky Digital on the television front. DSL on the broadband front and we're even starting to see fledgling "3-play" services from Smart and Magnet over DSL and fiber in some places.

I'd rather see a strong UPC cable operation in Ireland than two failing cable cos that can't invest in their networks due to lack of funds.

At least a merged NTL Ireland and Chorus would have signifigantly reduced costs due to integrating the two systems.

They'd also have increased power to provide unique programming as they'd have a truely national platform.

The worst scenario would be where a weakened NTL or Chorus went bust leaving Ireland at the total mercy of Sky Digital...

A sucessful national cable operator can only be a benefit as it will give sky and eircom a run for their money!

I wish them well!

I'd say once it's all clear you'll see Chorus and NTL rebranded as UPC Ireland which is the brand UGC uses for all of its other european cable operations.

Sarsfield

I think the competition issue isn't to do with Chorus and NTL, rather there's an element of common ownership between UGC and Sky. So both cable and satellite services might not be seen as separate enough.

However this didn't seem to be an issue when UGS took over Chorus. Maybe with NTL having a bigger market it suddenly becomes relevant?

Solair

Sarsfield wrote:

I think the competition issue isn't to do with Chorus and NTL, rather there's an element of common ownership between UGC and Sky. So both cable and satellite services might not be seen as separate enough.

However this didn't seem to be an issue when UGS took over Chorus. Maybe with NTL having a bigger market it suddenly becomes relevant?

NTL Ireland's market's not all that much bigger than Chorus'. However, a combined entity might be big enough to make the regulators worry.

I'd be far more concerned that UPC would be in a position to provide a decent service. Neither of our two main cable companies have been able to provide anything approaching an adequate service. They've had half-baked attempts at "tripple play" and have only managed to roll out bit of low grade digital cable.

The cable sector here and in the UK is pretty pathetic anyway, they basically mirror what's available on sky and provide almost no unique content.

"Sky by Wire" is the best description of them!

nicamuke

NTL bah!!!

Jumpy

nicamuke wrote:

NTL bah!!!

Brilliant, Insightful and truly magnificent first post there.
I admire your ability to truly flood us with the information and opinions we all seek.

If you dont have anything of any intelligence to say on the matter then dont be tempted to post.

NTL no longer have a position in Ireland, they still have a company temporarily advertising under NTL Ireland, but in truth it is Morgan Stanley, soon to be UPC.

zuma

Jumpy wrote:

Brilliant, Insightful and truly magnificent first post there.
I admire your ability to truly flood us with the information and opinions we all seek.

If you dont have anything of any intelligence to say on the matter then dont be tempted to post.

NTL no longer have a position in Ireland, they still have a company temporarily advertising under NTL Ireland, but in truth it is Morgan Stanley, soon to be UPC.

And when UPC/UGC purchase it from Morgan Stanley its BB operations will be called Chello Ireland.
http://www.chello.com/

Moriarty

Indeed. UPC have already registered www.chello.ie to stop any sneaky buggers trying to blag it.