Charter Communications (CHTR 1.08%) is to buy Western cable operator Optimum West from Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), the two publicly traded companies announced in a joint press release. The price is $1.625 billion in cash for the unit, which serves around 366,000 customers in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.
Charter was picked as the buyer over other cable and broadband operators such as Time Warner Cable and Suddenlink. Charter will finance the buy with $1.5 billion sourced from bank loans, its existing cash resources, and a revolving credit facility.
The parties involved expect the transaction to close in Q3 of this year. It is subject to approval from regulators.
