Virgin Will Wait for Markets to Settle
by Jon Hemingway -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/7/2007 7:54:00 AM
Virgin Media is giving potential suitors more time to work out their proposals in a tumultuous financing market.
The U.K. cable operator is extending its strategic review process from this week in hopes that the credit markets will calm to a point that will enable all willing bidders to submit proposals. The heavily pressured debt markets are rife with uncertainty, making it difficult for potential borrowers to gauge their financing costs at a time when rates are ballooning.
Virgin put itself on the block last month after receiving an unsolicited bid from private equity firm The Carlyle Group. The company then brought on Goldman Sachs to advise on alternate proposals from private equity and strategic bidders such as Liberty Global.
