Virgin Media could be subject to a £7.5 billion bid from a private equity consortium headed by US group Providence Equity Partners.
A report in the
Observer says that Providence Equity Partners is considering taking advantage of Virgin Media’s share price of £24.
Last summer, Providence Equity Partners held talks with the cable group over a $31 per share bid.
It is believed that Providence Equity Partners is in talks with its partners Blackstone, KKR and Cinven about making an approach in the next few weeks.
Virgin Media’s results for the first quarter of 2007 showed that it made an operating loss of £15.3 million in the first quarter (see Virgin Media Releases First Quarter Results).
The cable group has also been involved in a dispute with BSkyB over the carriage of its basic channel package, with Virgin taking the satellite broadcaster to court.
The bad feeling between the pair goes back to last year, when Sky bought a 17.9% stake in ITV, with Virgin interested in acquiring the commercial broadcasting giant (see ITV Welcomes Ofcom’s Public Service Proposals).
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