Liberty 'Very Happy' With New Charter Stake: CEO
Special to CNBC.com
Liberty Media bought a 27.3 percent stake in Charter Communications on Tuesday, taking advantage of a "rare" opportunity to buy a stake in the cable operator. "We're very happy" with the purchase, CEO Greg Maffei said.
Liberty, whose founder John Malone has been on an acquisition spree lately, announced Tuesday that it would pay $95.50 per Charter share, taking a $2.62 billion stake in the multimedia company. The media holding company is buying its stake in Charter from three investment firms.
"The base business plan that the Charter team has is excellent," Maffei told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," adding that he had "a lot of confidence" in Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge. "If opportunities arise for incremental acquisition, that's only a further benefit."
Charter's cash flow, subscription and high speed data businesses are "a great opportunity for Liberty shareholders now," Maffei said."It's rare when you have an opportunity to buy a significant stake and have the influence that Liberty would like to have at Charter."
Maffei said Liberty would consider buying more of Charter, but had no such plans now.
"We had the opportunity to increase our stake up to 35 percent for the next three years and then up to 40 percent after that," Maffei said. "We'll see how things go. We're very happy with our 27 percent."
