Sirius XM Radio To Buy Back Additional $2 Bln In Shares

(RTTNews) - Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI) said Thursday that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program to buy back an additional $2 billion of its common stock. The satellite radio company noted that the new share repurchase program reflects its board's desire to continue to return value to stockholders and confidence in the long-term growth prospects of the company's business.

Sirius XM said it may repurchase shares of its common stock from time to time on the open market and in privately negotiated transactions, including in transactions with media holding company Liberty Media Corp. (LMCA) and its affiliates. The company will fund the repurchases through cash on hand, future cash flow from operations and future borrowings.

Sirius noted that prior to entering into this repurchase transaction, Liberty Media has not participated in the repurchase program.

Sirius also said it has agreed to repurchase $500 million of its common stock from Liberty Media and its affiliates. The price per share will be determined based on a discount to the volume weighted average price of the common stock during a period following the release of the company's earnings for the third quarter.

The company expects to purchase the shares in three installments in November 2013, January 2014 and April 2014, but may accelerate the purchases under certain circumstances.

Sirius noted that to date, it has repurchased 476.55 million shares of its common stock for a total of about $1.6 billion. Upon consummation of the Liberty Media repurchase transactions, it will have repurchased shares of common stock for a total of about $2.1 billion.

According to Sirius, the purchase of common stock from Liberty Media will complete its existing stock repurchase program and also represent the first transactions under the new repurchase program.

In Thursday's regular session, SIRI is trading at $3.95, up $0.12 or 3.13 percent on a volume of 14.28 million shares.