Laying out his vision for the next year, Burdick predicted that Telewest will emerge from its financial restructuring in the second quarter of 2003, will be cash flow positive by the fourth quarter of 2003, and will possibly join forces with NTL soon after that in early 2004.
Both NTL and Telewest have admitted a merger would a logical step to enable them to compete in a tough market, as they try to play catch up with dominant satellite TV operator BSkyB, and former telecoms monopoly BT Group Plc.
Up until now however, both companies have been hamstrung by their massive debts. NTL’s recent debt for equity swap has halved its 12bn pound ($19.4bn) debt, and it has now emerged from Chapter 11 with a new operating structure. It has been split into two separate companies. NTL Communications Corp comprises the old company’s UK and Ireland assets, while NTL Europe Inc comprises its assets in continental Europe.
Telewest expects to emerge from its restructuring in the second quarter of 2003, after it halved its 5.3bn pound ($8.58bn) debt. The company has agreed to hand over 97% of its equity to its bondholders and hopes to complete the deal shortly. Last month, it reached agreement with its banks and bondholders for 2.155bn pounds ($3.4bn) of credit facilities.
Source: Computerwire
