Charter Communications roared mightily on Tuesday, rolling out a slate of 13 candidates for the Time Warner Cable board — but cable-TV observers don’t expect the move to give Charter’s takeover move more bite.
For the John Malone-backed Charter to really get TWC’s attention, it must show it the money, said big cable investor Mario Gabelli.
The investor, whose GAMCO Investors owns shares of Cablevision, TWC, Comcast and Charter, thinks Charter will have to raise its $132.50-a-share takeover offer if it wants to be taken seriously.
Charter, whose offer has been rebuffed by TWC boss Rob Marcus, is trying to force a proxy battle for the New York cable operator.
Gabelli said Malone, by releasing a candidate slate, is following a well-fingered playbook.
“This is a bear hug — a very simple tactic,” noted Gabelli of the Malone-orchestrated play to kick-start a new era of cable industry M&A.
“It’s unlikely that investors would vote for the board as proposed by Malone,” the influential cable investor told The Post.
“They like [TWC CEO Rob Marcus] and want to give him a chance.” Gabelli’s GAMCO has holdings in the top operators including Cablevision, TWC, Comcast and Charter.
“We have to wait and see whether groups like ISS publicly support the new slate. If they don’t, its going to be hard for Charter to get sufficient momentum,” said one executive who is following developments closely.
“You can huff and puff, but at the end of the day you can’t steal TWC,” said BTIG’s cable and satellite analyst, Rich Greenfield. “When they want to pay a real price, they can have it.”
Charter’s stock closed Tuesday up slightly at $137.90; TWC shares dipped 0.6 percent to $134.90.
“[TWC] is the only large US cable company not controlled by a family or major shareholder, and our board reflects that independence,” the company said in a statement.