NTL completes £1.27bn sale of broadcast division

Whatever

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 1st February 2005 12:45 GMT

NTL has completed the £1.27bn ($2.3bn) sale of its broadcast division to a consortium led by Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group.

The UK cableco is to use up to £475m of the proceeds to repurchase its common stock and will use another £500m to repay some of its outstanding debt.

The rest of the cash will be used for "general corporate purposes".

Said NTL chief exec Simon Duffy in a statement: "The closure of this transaction enables NTL to concentrate all its resources on growing and improving its UK communications and content distribution business."

NTL announced the sale of the broadcast unit in December. The business provides tower site leasing, broadcast transmission, satellite, media, public safety communications and other network services in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Customers include mobile phone operators, TV and radio broadcasters. ®