Liberty Buys 27% Interest in Charter

As expected, Liberty Media said Tuesday that it has agreed
to purchase 26.9 million shares of common stock and 1.1 million warrants from
three Charter Communications shareholders for $2.617 billion, giving the
Denver-based media giant the largest individual stake in the mid-market MSO.

Liberty will purchase the stakes from Apollo Management,
Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners, for a price of about $95.50
per share. As a result, Liberty will become Charter's largest individual
shareholder with 27.3% of its outstanding shares. As part of the agreement,
Liberty also received the right to elect four members of Charter's 11-member
board of directors and has agreed not to raise its stake above 35% before
January 2016 or above 39.99% hereafter.

Liberty said it would fund the deal through a combination of
cash on hand and new loan arrangements. The Wall Street Journal first
reported the two were considering a transaction in a
report Monday
.  

Click
here to read the full story at Multichannel News.