Charter Continues Talks on Financing for Time Warner Cable Bid

Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) continues their talks with banks in an effort to borrow capital for a bid for Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC).

The Wall Street Journal noted that Charter has discussed a multi-billion dollar debt package with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Barclays and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB). In the article, Charter may also look towards wealth funds and wealthy individuals to better increase their cash component and minimize debt.

Although bank participation and the Time Warner Cable bid is still in the air, this possible merger could aid in the cable-TV industry that has been facing threats from online videos. Liberty Media's (NASDAQ: LMCA) Chairman John Malone is the largest shareholder of Charter and has led this call for consolidation. According the WSJ, this consolidation could aid with a solution to rising programming costs and stop consumers from disconnecting from pay TV.

Charter initially spoke with Time Warner Cable in June, but Time Warner's CEO Glenn Britt commented that they were not interested in the deal. Further, Charter is smaller than Time Warner Cable. Despite these concerns, Time Warner investors expressed their frustration with management and the company's operational performance over the past quarters.

In pre-market trading, Charter was +6.32 percent and Time Warner Cable was +3.84 percent