DJ Comcast's Brian Roberts: Sees 'Win-Win' Deal For Both Cos
09 Jul 08:34
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Brian Roberts, president of Comcast Corp. (CMCSA,
CMCSK), said that a $58 billion purchase of AT&T's (T) broadband business would
be beneficial to both companies.
The offer, which Roberts called "an unheard of price in the cable business,"
represents 75% of AT&T's share price after the wireless spinoff, or 30x
cashflow, a fair price to pay to become the world's number one cable operator.
"We hope the (AT&T) board will try to maximize value instead of doing an IPO
at a lower level," Roberts told CNBC on Monday.
He feels the advantage for AT&T would be the tax-free structure of Comcast's
proposal.
"If you spin off a company, you can merge it with another company as long as
company that created the spinoff, AT&T keeps the majority of the vote and
equity in the company," Roberts said, "we propose that the AT&T shareholders
own 51% of the company and Comcast shareholders own 49%.
Comcast, he said, would be willing to give up control over the prospective
acquisition, giving the majority of the voting stock the public.
The offer is very fair to shareholders, said Roberts, adding that "if we
could get AT&T's margins to even look close to ours, we would be able to pay a
huge premium to what a public offering would take place at."
-By Michelle Rama, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4046
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 07-09-01
08:34 AM |
