Hargray acquires Charter Communications' Beaufort cable customers
In a press release issued today by Hargray Communications, it was announced that the Beaufort County-based cable and telephone company and Charter Communications have entered into a definitive agreement under which Hargray will acquire Charter’s Beaufort cable system.
The transaction involves approximately 7,000 customers in Beaufort and is expected to close by June 30, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions. RBC Capital Markets is acting as the exclusive M&A advisor to Charter Communications on the transaction.
“Acquiring Charter’s system in Beaufort will enable us to efficiently expand our footprint and bring our full suite of advanced services to areas in Beaufort we have heretofore been unable to serve,” said Michael Gottdenker, Hargray’s Chairman & CEO. “Combined with our recent fiber investments in downtown Savannah, this transaction will generate meaningful revenue and earnings growth well into the future.”
Andrew Rein, Hargray’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing added, “The significant investments we have made in our network and products over the last several years will enable us to deliver additional services to Charter’s Beaufort customers. This will include faster Internet service, more HD channels, Movies-on-Demand, and the opportunity to bundle unlimited nationwide telephone service with Internet and television services. Further, businesses served by Charter will be able to purchase advanced business communications services including dedicated symmetrical Internet, Metro-Ethernet and business grade IP voice services from Hargray.”
Hargray will be proactively reaching out individually to all Charter customers to communicate customer-specific transition plans and product/plan options as the date of the transaction closing nears (customers do not need to take any action). Until that time, since Hargray will not have access to Charter-specific customer data, Hargray will not be able to answer any customer-specific questions. Accordingly, Hargray encourages Charter customers to visit www.hargray.com/charter to get up-to-date information regarding this transaction.