NTL has a $1.4 Billion offer for Virgin Mobile

NTL has a $1.4 Billion offer for Virgin Mobile

British cable operator NTL Inc. has announced that they have approached the Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile Holdings PLC with an offer of more than 810 million pounds. They plan to acquire the cell-phone company and aim to create the Britain’s first “quadruple play” service, which would offer mobile phones, fixed-line phones, Internet broadband, and TV services under a single brand.

NTL is already engaged in their recently undertaken acquisition of their cable rival Telewest Global. They are now offering Virgin Mobile shareholders 0.09298 shares of NTL common stock per share of Virgin Mobile as well as a full cash alternative at 323 pence ($5.59) per share. They also clarified that Virgin Group has indicated it would exchange its stake in Virgin Mobile for shares in NTL Group.

Their competitors in the market BSkyB, which is partially owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., is under process of overtaking high-speed Internet provider Easynet Group PLC. They are also planning to offer a “triple play” service, offering high-speed Internet access, pay-TV and landline telephone service.

However, if the NTL’s both deal goes through, the combined entity would have around 2.5 million broadband customers and 4.3 million fixed-line telephony customers, while providing television to 5 million homes. They have offered Richard Branson a 14 percent stake in the enlarged group, which would make him the largest individual stockholder in the combined group.