Telecom giant AT&T Inc. (T) is close to finalizing a takeover deal with DirecTV (DTV), the Wall Street Journal reported.
The paper’s sources claim that an agreement could be reached “in two weeks if not sooner”.
DirecTV’s shares are changing hands at $90.65 apiece in pre-market trading after closing at $87.16 on Monday. The current price-per-share gives the company a market cap of $44.45 billion. The parties are discussing a price for DTV in the low to mid-$90s p/sh, one of the sources told the Journal. With an additional premium, a takeover could value the satellite-TV provider in the neighborhood of $50 billion, according to a share count in DirecTV’s latest quarterly report.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting the two parties are in advanced talks that could lead to an offer as high as $100 a share for the El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV.
The price represents a 15% premium to DTV’s closing PPS on Monday and values the group at around $50 billion. At $95 a share, a deal would value the company at nearly $48 billion.
While there is no guarantee the two sides will strike a deal, given the companies have come close to striking a merger before, only to see it fall apart over issues including price, the Journal notes that AT&T is “expected to pay for any deal mainly with stock.”
The talks come after Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s announcement in February to acquire its closest cable rival Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $45.2 billion, or $159 a share, in a deal that would create a giant dominating the country’s major markets.
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