Charter Communications Inc. is nearing an agreement with banks to borrow money for a bid for Time Warner Cable Inc., according to people familiar with the situation — a sign that the scrappy cable operator’s effort to engineer a combination of the two companies may be moving into high gear.
Charter has held talks with Bank of America Corp., Barclays PLC and Deutsche Bank AG about a multi-billion dollar debt package that would underpin an offer for Time Warner Cable, which has a market capitalization of nearly $35 billion, the people said. Another possible source of cash for a bid, according to people familiar with the matter: Sovereign wealth funds and wealthy individuals. Arranging equity commitments from such parties could allow Charter to increase the cash component of the deal without taking on too much debt.