ntl stand by original Virgin offer
# 12 December 2005, 09:44 by Nemesis
ntl have all but refused to increase the offer of 323p per Virgin Mobile share, citing that “represents better value, for all Virgin Mobile shareholders, than Virgin Mobile’s stand-alone alternatives”.
The full announcement from ntl can be found at the www.sec.gov website.
This doesn’t seem to sit well with Sir Richard Branson, he has been quoted as saying that he “is prepared to take a lower price for his share of the business giving NTL more room to up the amount Virgin Mobile’s minority shareholders will receive.”
If reports are to be believed, he is willing to sell his majority shareholding at a discounted price of 300p per share, so ntl can offer a better price to the minority shareholders of Virgin Mobile.
It would appear that Branson is looking at the long term results of the takeover, in particular the quad play benefits, and taking on BSkyB.