Charter to buy off rival Time Warner Cable for a whopping $78.7 billion

Charter Communications Inc has said it would buy one of its large rivals Time Warner Cable Inc in a $78.7 billion cash-and-stock deal. This is in a bid to compete with leading US cable services provider Comcast. The deal pegs each Time Warner Cable share at around $195.71.

"Charter will provide $100.00 in cash and shares of a new public parent company ("New Charter") equivalent to 0.5409 shares of CHTR for each Time Warner Cable share outstanding. The deal values each Time Warner Cable share at approximately $195.71 based on Charter's market closing price on May 20, or approximately $200 based on Charter's 60-trading day volume weighted average price," the official press release said.

Charter has also confirmed that Liberty Broadband Corporation will buy $4.3 billion of newly issued New Charter shares at $176.95 per Charter share upon closing of the Time Warner Cable transaction.

"The combination of Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House will create a leading broadband services and technology company serving 23.9 million customers in 41 states," the official statement said.

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