Comcast to Buys Out GE For Sole Ownership of NBCUniversal - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

Philadelphia, PA.- In a massive 16.7 billion dollar deal Comcast Corporation has announced it will buy out GE's 49% ownership stake in NBC Universal. The deal includes properties owned by GE in New York and New Jersey and makes Comcast a leading media and technology company.

Comcast Corporation finalized the deal over last weekend to acquire GE's entire 49% common equity stake in the NBCUniversal joint venture for approximately $16.7 billion. Also, NBCUniversal will purchase from GE the properties used by NBCUniversal at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ for approximately $1.4 billion. The acquisition accelerates GE's divestiture ahead of a redemption period that would have begun in July 2014. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, who has been on the Monterey Peninsula playing golf in the ATT Pebble Beach Pro Am says, "This is an exciting day for Comcast as we have agreed to accelerate the purchase of NBCUniversal. The management team at GE has been a wonderful partner during the past two years and their support has been very valuable. Our decision to acquire GE's ownership is driven by our sense of optimism for the future prospects of NBCUniversal and our desire to capture future value that we hope to create for our shareholders." Roberts went on to say, "We believe the terms of the transaction are attractive and have planned for this event by taking a number of financial steps to prepare our balance sheet. We believe we are in a strong and unique position to continue to grow and build value in our combined company."

The transactions will be funded with $11.4 billion of cash on hand, $4.0 billion of subsidiary senior unsecured notes to be issued to GE, $2.0 billion of borrowings under Comcast and/or subsidiary bank credit facilities and $725 million of subsidiary preferred stock to be issued to GE.

Morgan Stanley was financial advisor to Comcast in this deal.