Charter Communications Inc. is reportedly nearing an agreement to secure $25 billion in debt to help finance an acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc.
Based on that amount of debt, Charter could then offer about $90 per share for the company in cash, according to the amount of Time Warner Cable shares outstanding. Charter’s current market value is about $14 billion.
Time Warner Cable shares closed Friday at $138.22. The New York-based company’s third-largest division serving Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania is based in Akron.
A financed deal of this size would result in a combined company with more than $63 billion in debt when taking into account Charter and Time Warner Cable’s current balance sheets. Both companies already carry substantial debt.
A deal between Time Warner Cable and Charter would combine the second- and fourth-largest cable companies in the U.S.