The Dolan Family Group, who controls Cablevision, has made an offer to take the company private. The proposed deal is valued at $7.9 billion at $33.50 a share.
The company would spin off national cable networks (AMC, IFC, WE), fuse, regional sports networks, Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, Radio City Music Hall, News 12 and Clearview Cinemas.
Cablevision’s public shareholders would receive $21.00 for each 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,” said the Dolans. “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.
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.
