Time Warner Cable buys Insight for $3bn

Time Warner Cable said Monday it is buying smaller high-speed data, voice and video provider Insight for $3bn in cash in an effort to build up its Midwest operations.

Insight, which is currently owned jointly by The Carlyle Group, Crestview Partners, MidOcean Partners and others, has more than 750,000 customers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

The company was taken private by Carlyle and Insight management in December 2005, and Crestview and MidOcean purchased a significant stake in April 2010.

Based on New York, Time Warner Cable expects to realize synergies of $100m through programming expense savings and other cost reductions. The company anticipates seeing a bulk of the savings within two years of closing.

"We believe in our business and its long-term prospects and have long thought that Insight's well-run, technologically advanced systems would fit well with our Midwest operations," said Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt.

Time Warner Cable also believes it will see fewer capital requirements upon the deal's consummation given Insight's recent digital conversion and launch of DOCSIS 3.0.

While the companies did not say when the deal would close, they said the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions.

(Published by Fox Business - August 15, 2011)