Liberty Broadband, the tracking stock that will include Liberty Media’s 27% interest in Charter Communications, will officially hit the street on Nov. 4 at 5 p.m., when it begins when-issued trading, the company said in a statement Monday.
According to Liberty, shares of Liberty Broadband’s Series A and Series C common stock will trade on a when-issued basis on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbols “LBDAV” and “LBDKV”, respectively, on Nov. 4. In addition, Liberty Media expects Liberty Broadband’s Series B common stock to be quoted on a when-issued basis on the OTC Markets under the symbol “LBDBV” on Nov. 4.
Liberty Media said last month that it would issue the tracker, which will house its Charter interest, 100% of global positioning satellite company TruePosition and minority interests in Time Warner Cable and about $320 million in debt.It first announced its intention to create the tracker in March.
The Liberty Broadband tracker will be the third tracker issued by Liberty Media this year – in October it split Liberty Interactive into QVC Group (housing its QVC Inc. shopping channel and other assets) and Liberty Ventures (including its e-commerce companies) and later in the month said its Liberty Global would create a tracker for its Latin American assets.
Liberty Broadband shares will be distributed as a dividend at 5 p.m., on Nov. 4, to holders of Liberty Media common stock. Liberty Media expects that Liberty Broadband’s Series A and Series C common stock will begin trading in the regular way on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbols “LBRDA” and “LBRDK”, respectively, and that Liberty Broadband’s Series B common stock will begin quotation in the regular way on the OTC Markets under the symbol “LBRDB,” beginning on Nov. 5.
In a note to clients Monday Evercore ISI media analysts Vijay Jayant and David Joyce estimated Liberty Broadband’s 88 million shares would be valued at about $4.6 billion, or about $53 per share before a planned subscription rights offering in December. That rights offering could increase the total share count of the tracker to about 105 million and raise about $740 million, according to the analysts.
After the rights offer, Jayant and Joyce estimate Liberty Broadband will trade at about $51 per share.
