Report: Banks ready to go with $24B for Charter's pursuit of TWC

A group of banks that were previously ready to finance Charter's (NASDAQ: CHTR) part in the broader Comcast-Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) deal are now set to back its own acquisition of TWC.

According to Reuters, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are set to provide $24 billion in debt for the deal.

"The M&A talks are still going on and we don't have timing," an identified banker told Reuters. "Once the M&A decision is reached, it should be quick to move to next steps, as the banks know the company pretty well."

The banker told the news service that he expected two-thirds of the package to consist of bonds. He also said the overall structure of the financing—such as the split between leveraged loans and high-yield bonds, and secured and unsecured debt—has not been finalized.

Earlier this month, Greg Maffei, CEO of Charter's biggest investor, Liberty Media, said his company has been approached "by many potential partners" to invest alongside Liberty in Charter.

Liberty has a 26 percent stake in Charter and would seek to maintain that level of investment in a combined company in order to satisfy investors and regulators. 

"If Charter needed more capital and if Liberty were to participate, there would be other ways to go to the market to increase stakes at relatively low costs," Maffei said.

For more:
- read this Reuters story

Related links:
Charter's Rutledge: Merger with TWC would not 'meaningfully change' programming talks
Charter lining up TWC bid with banks as Liberty's Maffei says takeover would be 'friendly'
Roberts: 'We're not feeling the need to rush out and do something' after TWC deal collapse

UPDATE: Greg Maffei's company was incorrectly idenfited in a previous version of this story.