Charter (CHTR) Completes $200M Buyback; Enters New $321M Buyback Agreement
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Price: $151.38 -4.77%
Overall Analyst Rating:
SELL (= Flat)
Dividend Yield: 0.1%
EPS Growth %: +18.1%
Overall Analyst Rating:
SELL (= Flat)
Dividend Yield: 0.1%
EPS Growth %: +18.1%
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Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) has completed the share repurchase program announced on August 9, 2011 by acquiring approximately 4.125 million shares of Charter's Class A common stock for a total of $200 million, or an average of $48.48 per share.
In addition, following approval by a committee of independent directors of the Board of Directors of Charter advised by UBS Investment Bank, Charter has agreed to purchase an additional 5.891 million shares in privately negotiated transactions, for a total of $321 million, or an average of $54.46 per share. The Company entered into a stock repurchase agreement with a shareholder to purchase 750,000 shares at $55.18, a 1% discount to the closing price on December 22, 2011. The Company subsequently agreed to acquire an aggregate of 5.141 million shares from certain funds affiliated with Oaktree Capital Management and Apollo Management Holdings at the price of $54.35 per share, a 3.5% discount to the December 23, 2011 closing price. Oaktree Capital Management and Apollo Management Holdings indicated to Charter that the purpose of the sales was to manage liquidity needs of certain funds. Following the repurchases, based on publicly available information, Apollo will continue to beneficially own 33.541 million shares of Class A common stock representing 33.26% of the outstanding shares on a beneficial ownership basis and Oaktree will hold 16.615 million shares or 16.56% of the outstanding shares on a beneficial ownership basis. The Company expects to close all of the privately negotiated transactions by December 30, 2011.
Including these privately negotiated transactions, in 2011 Charter will have repurchased a total of 14.5 million shares, or 12.7% of its outstanding shares at the beginning of the year. Adjusted for share repurchases to be completed through the fourth quarter, the Company's leverage ratio would have been 4.8 times net debt to last 12 months proforma Adjusted EBITDA (b) as of September 30, 2011. The Company is comfortable with its liquidity and financial profile and confirms its target leverage range of 4.0-4.5x, and remains comfortable plus or minus 0.5x for strategic opportunities such as the repurchases in 2011.
In addition, following approval by a committee of independent directors of the Board of Directors of Charter advised by UBS Investment Bank, Charter has agreed to purchase an additional 5.891 million shares in privately negotiated transactions, for a total of $321 million, or an average of $54.46 per share. The Company entered into a stock repurchase agreement with a shareholder to purchase 750,000 shares at $55.18, a 1% discount to the closing price on December 22, 2011. The Company subsequently agreed to acquire an aggregate of 5.141 million shares from certain funds affiliated with Oaktree Capital Management and Apollo Management Holdings at the price of $54.35 per share, a 3.5% discount to the December 23, 2011 closing price. Oaktree Capital Management and Apollo Management Holdings indicated to Charter that the purpose of the sales was to manage liquidity needs of certain funds. Following the repurchases, based on publicly available information, Apollo will continue to beneficially own 33.541 million shares of Class A common stock representing 33.26% of the outstanding shares on a beneficial ownership basis and Oaktree will hold 16.615 million shares or 16.56% of the outstanding shares on a beneficial ownership basis. The Company expects to close all of the privately negotiated transactions by December 30, 2011.
Including these privately negotiated transactions, in 2011 Charter will have repurchased a total of 14.5 million shares, or 12.7% of its outstanding shares at the beginning of the year. Adjusted for share repurchases to be completed through the fourth quarter, the Company's leverage ratio would have been 4.8 times net debt to last 12 months proforma Adjusted EBITDA (b) as of September 30, 2011. The Company is comfortable with its liquidity and financial profile and confirms its target leverage range of 4.0-4.5x, and remains comfortable plus or minus 0.5x for strategic opportunities such as the repurchases in 2011.
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