LONDON—United Kingdom cable operator NTL said it reached a deal to acquire Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc for $1.68 billion.
The news ends months-long negotiations between the two companies. Virgin initially turned down an offer from NTL in early December, saying that the offer “materially undervalue[d]” Virgin Mobile. NTL subsequently upped its bid and today reached a price Virgin’s board agreed to.
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NTL already licenses the Virgin brand for its broadband offerings, and as of December it said it was in talks to extend the license to cover television, wireline and wireless phone services. Now, with NTL acquiring Virgin outright, the company can become a quadruple player using the Virgin brand.
The deal does not affect Virgin Mobile USA Inc.