VMED Sells Its Content Business To British Sky Broadcasting

Analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterate their "buy" rating on Virgin Media VMED. The target price for VMED is set to £14. Virgin Media has sold its content business (Virgin Media TV) to British Sky Broadcasting BSYBY for £160 million in cash. According to the analysts, “£105m will be received on completion (c 2months) and the remainder post blessing form the UK regulator. The disposal had been the subject of recent press speculation but is accompanied by a number of separate agreements which secures VMED the long-term distribution of Sky's basic channel line-up (inc the recently acquired Virgin channels) and access to Sky Sports and Movies HD content for the very first time.” “This is important for VMED which should help to grow customer ARPU through the offering of more HD content (both broadcast and on-demand)… The modest deleveraging is also useful for VMED's net debt position and equity,” Deutsche Bank adds. More Analyst Ratings here