Virgin Media mulls takeover approach
Cable network on the block again
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Virgin Media, bowed by its protracted legal tussle with Sky, has again become the target of a takeover approach by private equity carpetbaggers.
Reports say the Virgin Media board is considering a $10bn (about £4.9bn) punt from the Carlyle Group, a consortium which also made an approach last year, but was rebuffed.
This time round, Richard Branson, who bagged the largest share in the firm when NTL:Telewest bought Virgin Mobile, is now said to back a sale, though would hang on to his holding. His Virgin Group retains control over the Virgin brand, which was slapped on NTL:Telewest at a cost of £25m.
Carlyle's offer values Virgin Media at between $33 and $35 per share. It closed on Nasdaq on Friday at $24.37. Other private equity funds are also considering making a bid, meaning the sale would enter an auction process that would take several weeks.
Virgin's bosses reportedly reckon that delisting the firm would allow more dynamic moves to stimulate growth, without the scrutiny of the quarterly updates demanded by the stock market.
A private equity deal for Virgin Media would rank as the second biggest ever, after the sale of high street stalwart Boots, which went for £11.1bn in May. The boom in the sector means any large company perceived as lacking direction is likely to be targeted. ®
COMMENTS
I don't beleive you
"not so. the 25p per minute plus connection charge is refunded if it is a fault with the service, whether you ask for it or not."
I notice you never gave your name when you said that and why doesn't that suprise me.
I don't believe you when you say you get an automatic refund. I have witnessed NTL's system first hand and there is no way you have implemented an automatic refund in the case of a Virgin Media error with regards to a broadband fault.
I think that the Tech Support have to refund this charge MANUALLY if they believe it to be Virgin Media's fault. And given NTL/Virgin's track record I imagine this will be done rather haphazardly and shoddily.
If it really is done automatically then Virgin have wasted their money and the customers patience as Virgin has serious billing problems (overcharging, duplicate charges, etc) that should be addressed before you claim Virgin are automatically giving people refunds for BB tech support charges without them asking.
Wait, was that a pig flying past my window???
At least NTL Ireland was sold separately a few years ago :)
NTL Ireland customers, thankfully, will be missing all this fun and frolics as it was sold off before Virgin took over.
Ireland's instead been turned over to UPC (Europe's largest cable provider) owned by Liberty Global.
They purchased NTL Ireland and Chorus giving them almost 100% of our cable market !!!
It looks like UK customers might be 'enjoying' another complete rebrand (yay!)
er ...
"This supposed refund is discretionary and you have to ask for it, it's not automatic. This requires customers to be aware of it. How will they know if problem was a VM fault to ask for refund?"
not so. the 25p per minute plus connection charge is refunded if it is a fault with the service, whether you ask for it or not.
"yes, it may be, if the agent agree's that it is infact a fault"
we err on the side of caution, because there are grey areas and because we aren't perfect.
"then you might get the charge back next month."
the call charges don't come out of your bank immediately, and call credits are done at the time of the call, so there should be no detrimental effect from the charge, if it is a service fault.
and boy oh boy did we wander off the subject of the original article lol
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