Yuma International - Liberty Said Close to Buying Charter.

Online, April 24, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Yuma International reportedly announced in a meeting for investors that Liberty Media Corp is to spend $2.62 billion to take a 27.3% shareholding in Charter Communications.

Charter Communications Inc., who are the fourth largest cable operator in the United States by subscriber numbers, say their share price jump by 10 percent, after reports that Liberty Media is to take a 27.3% stake in the company for $2.62 billion.

Yuma International allegedly revealed that Liberty Media, an umbrella company under the control of John Malone, one of cable's pioneers, would pay $95.50 per share to buy the stakes currently held by Crestview Partners, Oaktree Capital Management and Apollo Management.

What is of particular note is that the deal will mark the return to the cable business for Malone, at a time when the industry is facing major challenges as media production companies seek better terms, consumers are cutting subscriptions and increased competition from Internet based rivals.

Malone is one of the industry's pioneers, having grown his Tele-Communications Inc. into a $48 billion company by the time he sold it to AT&T in 1999.

Yuma International are believed to have remarked that Charter emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, with a number of private equity groups taking control. Their focus has been on operating in small and medium sized markets and in building a faster data infrastructure, which may be why it ended up on Malone's radar.

Charter does not face too much direct competition in the markets it operates in and it also generates a significant portion of its revenues from broadband Internet subscriptions.