8 August 2007
Virgin Media customers face a wait to see who snaps up the company after it opened up the bidding arena once more for potential buyers, it has emerged.
The company, headed by multi-millionaire Sir Richard Branson, is said to have extended its strategic review of the company to give buyers more time to consider a deal.
The news follows an initial £5.5 billion offer from an unnamed bidder last month, which press reports named as private equity firm Carlyle.
Virgin Media, formed last year after a tie up with Virgin Mobile and Telewest, said that the move came as an attempt to form a deal in a "more stable debt market environment".
In a statement the group said: "As a consequence of this review and the resulting process, potential strategic and financial counter-parties have continued to confirm a strong ongoing interest in a transaction.
"Virgin Media's financial advisers have recommended that Virgin Media extend the process until these parties can complete their proposals in a more stable debt market environment."
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live's Wake Up to Money, media analyst Roger Laughton said the decision reflected the current market: "A more stable debt market environment is needed before private equity is going to be that interested in Virgin Media.
"Basically they have done a huge amount of capital investment with cables in the ground and they've got an attractive quad play proposition with phones and television and broadband.
"So somebody will want to buy it at some point but whether now is the time is another matter," he concluded.
Virgin Media has been in the headlines recently for several high profile cases, notably its fall-out with rival Sky, when a deal to decide a price for channels including Sky One fell through.
According to company figures, Virgin lost 46,000 customers in the three months to the end of March 2007 as a result.
It has been mooted that, if Carlyle does take over the group it will be keen to distance change the company's name to try to ease tensions with the Murdoch empire.
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