8 December 2005
The prospects of Virgin Mobile and NTL forming a new media giant have been dashed for now after the board of the former rejected an £817 million offer.
A service offering digital TV, mobile and fixed-line phones and broadband all in the same package had been seemingly in the offing – and it may still come to fruition, with Virgin thought to be holding firm for a higher offer from NTL.
A Virgin statement revealed that the company felt that it was undervalued by the bid, but hinted that is was open to negotiation - and owner Richard Branson himself told the BBC that he was 90 per cent sure that a deal would eventually be agreed.
He said: "It's for the board to negotiate with NTL a fair price for the shareholders, particularly the smaller shareholders. They have said to me they have quite bullish forecasts which they want to put in front of NTL.
"It's up to them to negotiate a price that they feel is fair and we're happy to let them do that."
He said that , with the difference in opinion thought to equate to around £25 million, the extra money asked of NTL would pale into comparison with the commercial benefits on offer and that a complete deadlock was unlikely.
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