TELEWEST DENIES RUMOUR OF TAKEOVER

UK CABLE Company Telewest has spurned rumours at the weekend that its plunging share price has made it vulnerable to a takeover bid.
There had been speculation over the weekend that American private equity group Callahan Associates was prepared to make an offer of £6 billion for the company.
Telewest's market value at Friday's close was £4.6 billion, however a Telewest spokesman said any offer at that level would be rejected.
Analysts say Telewest's future is effectively in the hands of its biggest shareholders, Microsoft and Liberty Media. These two companies are said to be pushing for a link with larger rival NTL in order to create one UK cable group to take on BSkyB.
Although the two cable operators have not had formal merger talks, Adam Singer, chief executive of Telewest, added fuel to the fire over the weekend by describing a link with NTL as legitimate speculation.
NTL, however, is not thought to be interested in a full merger between the two, even though there is no overlap between the companies' networks and both groups share Microsoft as a shareholder. NTL, three per cent owned by the software giant, has only just closed its £8 billion purchase of Cable & Wireless Communications and is understood to be much more interested in expanding its interests in Continental Europe.