Charter Communications is reportedly in talks to acquire mid-sized cable operator Bright House Networks in an all-stock deal worth as much as $12 billion that would bring an additional 2.5 million customers in Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana and California into the Charter fold.
Charter shares soared on the possibility of a deal — the stock was priced at $194.55 each in afternoon trading, up 6.5% or $11.94 per share.
Charter agreed last year to a series of sales, swaps and spinoffs with Comcast-TWC that would effectively double the size of its footprint. But those deals aren’t set to occur until after the Comcast-TWC deal is completed. But since that deal was first struck the odds of its completion have dipped considerably, with some analysts pegging it at even money the deal is not approved.
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