NTL wins race to buy CWC residential business

NEWS NTL has won the protracted battle to buy Cable & Wireless Communications' (CWC) residential business. The deal will cost Nasdaq-listed NTL £8.2bn in cash and stock, and make it the UK's largest cable TV and telephony provider. Cable & Wireless will take full control of the rest of CWC - what it is now called CWC DataCo - in line with its strategy of focusing on the business data and IP (Internet protocol) markets. NTL's purchase of CWC ConsumerCo is a blow to Telewest, the UK's other major cable operator, which was frozen out of last stage negotiations a week ago. Telewest has no immediate comment. France Telecom, which injected $1bn into NTL two weeks ago, will finance the cash portion of the CWC ConsumerCo buy, and come out of the transaction with a 25 per cent stake in NTL after spending a further $4.5bn. The CWC transactions are dependent on approval from Bell Atlantic, which holds 18.5 per cent of CWC.