Less Hazy: Time Warner, Comcast in Prime Spot for Adelphia

Adelphia’s interest in a Time Warner Cable and Comcast sale was made official Tues, when an unsealed court filing confirmed that the 2 companies are the MSO’s leading bidders. Adelphia has also agreed to a breakup fee of 2.5% of the purchase price, according to the filing. While Adelphia cautioned that no definitive agreement with TW-Comcast or any other party has been reached and may not be, it said that its the debtors sense that the TW-Comcast bid is "most likely to maximize the value of distributable proceeds to the debtors’ stakeholders and compare favorably to the value to be realized under the amended plan." Sources have put the TW-Comcast bid at just under $18bln. A bankruptcy court is slated to consider the offer today. The court filing, originally filed Apr 8 under seal, detailed the entire bidding process. Adelphia received about 45 non-binding indications of preliminary interest in Oct from 25 different potential bidders. Of those, 22 were invited to participate in Phase 2 of the sale process, with final bids due Jan 31. Adelphia received an aggregate of 15 final bids. "Since the bid deadline, the debtors and their advisers have engaged in extensive negotiations with TW-Comcast over the content of separate (but substantially similar) asset purchase agreements, which in combination will result in the sale of substantially all of the debtors’ assets to TW and Comcast pursuant to plan of reorganization," Adelphia said. "The debtors have concluded that consummation of such a transaction would yield a more favorable mix of currency at a premium over the hypothetical total enterprise value." Still Trying? Reports surfaced Tues that Cablevision raised its bid for Adelphia to $17.1bln from $16.5bln. Analysts continued to give a CVC offer little credence. UBS questioned whether the timing of CVC’s bid related to TW’s negotiating of a break-up fee this week.