Malone poised to gain control of Telewest

US billionaire John Malone looked poised to gain a controlling share of Telewest after Microsoft revealed that it would be selling its stake in the debt-laden broadcaster.
Microsoft increased the likelihood of John Malone driving through his restructuring plans after the tech giant revealed that it would sell its 24% stake in Telewest.
Should Liberty choose to take on all Microsoft's shares the deal would be worth around $330 million a current share prices. Microsoft has said that it will want to offload the share bundle in the next 30 days.
Liberty approached the Telewest board on June 12 by proposing a restructuring plan that would "permit us as a creditor to participate in and influence discussion and decisions regarding any future restructuring or recapitalization of the company."
Liberty began the push for control of Telewest (and a $5.3 billion debt-for-equity conversion) by proposing to make an offer for 20% of Telewest's non-convertible bonds. The Telewest board said that they had received acceptances of around 16% of the bonds tendered for by Liberty – which in the interim had purchased 5% of bonds itself and a further 5% outside the tender. According to Telewest, a bondholders committee has already voiced its approval of the Liberty offer.
In a letter to shareholders, the board concluded "that it is in the best interest of your company to enter into discussions with Liberty and the Bondholders' Committee".
The outlook for the company is mixed at the moment as Telewest said that it "faces an uncertain future as to its funding and capital structure", having to shed 1,500 jobs in May to drive down costs.
However, results from its last quarterly report indicate that the total turnover for 2001 was £334 million - up 4% from last year's mark of £321m - and the EBITDA figures were up £23 million to £91 million.
Telewest shares rose 2.8 per cent to 2.9p as the news hit the markets.
Telewest, www.telewest.co.uk
(GMcG)