A day after Time Warner Inc. CEO Jeff Bewkes reiterated the potential that the New York media house could spin off more of its cable outfit or strike a deal to sell AOL, Time Warner Cable Inc. CFO Robert Marcus expanded on his company's strategic goals at a Bear, Stearns & Co. conference.
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"At our current leverage, we've got room to incur more debt," Time Warner Cable chief financial officer Robert Marcus said, with the caveat that the company is committed to maintaining a "solid investor-grade rating."
"There is no transaction out there that I would characterize as a must-have," Marcus said, and the company is not interested in growing "just for the sake of getting bigger." The executive pointed out that Time Warner Cable did not bite when Carlyle Group shopped cable operator Insight Communications Co. in 2007. "If it gets too rich," Marcus said, "we're out."
Time Warner owns 84% of the Stamford, Conn., cable operator. Bewkes said Tuesday at the Bear Stearns conference that the company was considering spinning out more of Time Warner Cable, and that it would consider deals for AOL.
"If there were no discussions with Time Warner," Marcus said, "we would be seriously considering levering up and making some sort of distribution of capital to shareholders buybacks or a regular dividend." - Chris Nolter
