Carlyle reportedly making $8 billion bid for Virgin Media Group

July 2, 2007 | Matt Marshall

The Carlyle Group is reportedly considering making, or has already made, a $8 billion bid for Virgin Media Group, the cable television and communications group formed by the merger of NTL and Telewest.

The media is all over it; the latest story is here.

Virgin Media has been the subject of takeover speculation for some time, and a host of private equity names, including Providence, The Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts are thought to have approached the company in the past 12 months. News that Carlyle is poised to make its offer formal could spark a bidding war for Virgin Media, which has appointed investment bank Goldman Sachs to advise on its options.

The sources confirmed that the talks are at a very early stage and that, contrary to reports, this is the first time that Carlyle has made any approach to Virgin Media.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.