Charter Communications, Cox Announce Merger; CHTR Up Nearly 9% In Pre-market

(RTTNews) - Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR), a telecom and mass media firm, and Cox Communications, a digital cable television provider, on Friday announced a merger deal to form a company focused on mobile and broadband communications services, video entertainment, and others.

The proposed transaction values Cox at around $34.5 billion, comprised of $21.9 billion of equity and $12.6 billion of net debt and other obligations.

Under the terms, Charter will acquire Cox Communications' commercial fiber and managed IT and cloud businesses, and Cox Enterprises will contribute Cox Communications' residential cable business to Charter Holdings, an existing subsidiary partnership of Charter.

As per the agreement, Cox Enterprises will receive $4 billion in cash, $6 billion notional amount of convertible preferred units in Charter's existing partnership, and around approximately 33.6 million units in Charter's existing partnership, with an implied value of $11.9 billion.

Post-transaction, Cox will own around 23% of the combined shares outstanding. The combined entity will assume Cox's approximately $12 billion in outstanding debt. The new company will be named Cox Communications and will remain headquartered at Stamford, CT.

CHTR was up by 8.92% at $457 per share in the pre-market trade on the Nasdaq.