Telewest To Reduce Shareholder Stake

Telewest shareholders can expect to receive only 1.5% of the firm’s equity once restructuring is completed, the cable company has announced.

Following in-depth negotiations, it has been agreed that bondholders will get 98.5% of Telewest shares. A deal by which they would have received 97% of the equity was previously rejected as insufficient.

“Telewest confirms that it expects the terms to provide that ordinary shareholders will receive 1.5% of the issued share capital immediately following the restructuring,” the company said in a statement.

The latest development will come as a disappointment to shareholders but the terms of the arrangement are still better than those offered to investors at rival cable firm NTL. They received just 1% of the company’s equity when it emerged from bankruptcy protection in January.

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