Virgin Media Weighs a Takeover Approach

• Published in: The Wall Street journal. Eastern edition
• Main Author: Jessica Hodgson, Marietta Cauchi and Henny Sender
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y Dow Jones & Company Inc 03.07.2007
• Edition: Eastern edition
• Subjects: Acquisitions & mergers; Bids; Corporate planning; Divestiture; Equity; Internet access; Private equity; Service introduction; Tender offers
• ISSN: 0099-9660

NTL Inc. in 2005 acquired Telewest Global in a deal that fused the U.K.'s only two significant-size cable operators. Mr. [Richard Branson]'s Virgin Group later acquired its holding as part of a deal which saw NTL acquire Virgin Mobile, which Mr. Branson's Virgin Group controlled. The new company agreed to license the Virgin brand from Mr. Branson. A deal could put [Carlyle] and possibly other private-equity companies into direct competition with British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, the U.K.'s dominant pay-television provider, in which News Corp. is a 39.1% stockholder. (News Corp. has bid $5 billion to buy Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.) Virgin Media is losing customers to peers such as BSkyB and BT Group PLC in the U.K.'s cutthroat market for high-speed Internet access and pay television. Carlyle has experience in wireless, broadband and fixed-line.