查特通信擬550億收購時代華納有線
Charter Communications is near a deal to buy Time Warner Cable for about $55 billion, people with direct knowledge of the talks said on Monday, a takeover that would create a new powerhouse in the rapidly consolidating American cable industry.
查特通信公司(Charter Communications)以550億美元左右的價格收購時代華納有線(Time Warner Cable)的交易已接近達成，對談判有直接瞭解的人士週一表示。此番收購將讓正在經歷快速整合的美國有線電視行業新增一家強大企業。Under the proposed terms of the deal, Charter will pay about $195 a share in cash and stock. That is roughly 14 percent higher than Time Warner Cable’s closing stock price on Friday — and 47 percent higher than Charter’s original bid for its rival from early last year.
按照擬議的交易條件，查特公司將選擇現金加股票的支付方式，每股收購價約爲195美元。該價格比時代華納有線週五的收盤價高14%，比查特去年初最早的出價高47%。
A deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, though these people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about private negotiations, cautioned that talks were continuing and might still fall apart.
雙方最快可能在週二公佈達成交易的消息，但上述人士並未獲得公開談論祕密談判的授權，他們提醒說，談判還在繼續，並且仍有可能破裂。
The potential acquisition of Time Warner Cable completes a lengthy quest by Charter and its main backer, the billionaire John C. Malone, to break into the top tier of the American broadband industry.
查特公司及其大股東億萬富豪約翰·J·馬龍(John Malone)長期以來一直尋求躋身美國寬帶行業的頂級陣營，收購時代華納有線將讓他們得償所願。If completed, the transaction would be the latest in a series of mergers remaking the market for broadband Internet and cable television in the United States. Just last week, the European telecommunications company Altice agreed to buy Suddenlink for about $9 billion.
美國寬帶互聯網和有線電視市場上最近涌現出一系列重塑格局的併購案，這項交易如果能夠達成，便會成爲其中最新的一樁。And Charter is also nearing an agreement to acquire another cable operator, Bright House Networks, in a transaction that could also be announced soon.
此外，查特公司收購另一家有線電視運營商Bright House Networks的交易也已接近達成，達成交易的消息同樣可能很快獲得公佈。Last year, Mr. Malone tried to penetrate the American broadband industry, but Charter was foiled by its larger rival, Comcast, which bid $45 billion for Time Warner Cable. Comcast, the country’s biggest cable operator, ultimately failed in its effort, with federal antitrust regulators believing that the merger would have been untenable.
去年，馬龍曾試圖進入美國寬帶行業，但查特公司在對時代華納有線的競價中敗給了規模比它大的競爭對手康卡斯特(Comcast)，後者的出價是450億美元。作爲美國最大的有線電視運營商，康卡斯特的努力最終功虧一簣，因爲聯邦反壟斷監管機構認爲這項併購案不合規。Government regulators are also expected to closely scrutinize a combination of Charter and Time Warner Cable, according to analysts, though as a smaller transaction it may face less opposition.
分析人士稱，政府監管部門也會對查特公司和時代華納有線的合併進行嚴格的審查，儘管規模較小的交易面臨的阻力可能少一些。Since the collapse of the Comcast agreement, Charter has worked to win over its onetime reluctant target, focusing on a friendly deal and acknowledging that it would have to pay a much higher price tag.
康卡斯特的收購計劃泡湯後，爲了抱得美人歸，查特公司一直在跟一度將它拒之門外的時代華納有線接觸，想要進行友善收購，並且接受了不得不開出高得多的價碼的事實。Yet the company may still face competition for Time Warner Cable in the form of Altice, which has ambitions to extend its telecom empire across the Atlantic, beginning with the acquisition of Suddenlink.
不過，查特公司可能還要跟Altice競購時代華納有線。Altice想要以收購Suddenlink爲開端，把自己的電信帝國拓展到大西洋這一邊。News of the proposed terms of a Charter deal for Time Warner Cable were reported earlier by Bloomberg News.
彭博新聞社(Bloomberg News)早些時候已就擬議中的查特公司收購時代華納有線的交易條款進行過報道。
