The Dolan Family Group, which controls Cablevision, has proposed to take the company private in a deal valued at $33.50 per share or $7.9 billion.
If the deal goes through, the Dolan Family Group would own 100% of the Cablevision telecom and cable businesses and about 20% of Rainbow Media Holdings.
Public shareholders of Cablevision would receive $21.00 per share in cash in connection with a merger of Cablevision with an entity owned by the Dolan Family Group.
Charles and James Dolan said, “Our proposal offers a substantial premium to Cablevision’s public shareholders for the cable and telecom businesses, while enabling shareholders to benefit from unlocking the value of our premier programming, sports and entertainment properties.”
“With new technologies and aggressive competitors redefining content delivery, the cable and telecommunications businesses have truly entered a new and challenging era,” they said. “We strongly believe that a long-term, entrepreneurial management perspective – not constrained by the public markets’ tendency to focus on short-term results – will better enable the cable company to meet its competitive challenges. We are prepared to shoulder the risks of full ownership and are confident the company will achieve success.
The Dolan Family Group expects the Board to form a special committee to respond to the proposal on behalf of Cablevision’s public shareholders. The Dolan Family Group said that it is only interested in the proposed transaction and will not sell its stake in Cablevision.
“Our proposed transaction will also create a focused, well-capitalized content company including the national cable networks, outstanding regional sports networks, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, and one of the world’s finest sports and entertainment arenas – Madison Square Garden,” said the Dolans. “This ‘pure-play’ company will be well positioned for continued growth. We have long believed the value of these scarce assets was not fully reflected in Cablevision’s stock price, and will be more readily recognized in a stand- alone company.”
If the transaction reaches completion, Charles Dolan is expected to continue as the Chairman of Cablevision. James Dolan would be the CEO and Chairman of Rainbow and a director of Cablevision, and Tom Rutledge would be the CEO of Cablevision.
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
