Mediacom gets approval to pay $10m in settlement

Mediacom Communications, the cable-television provider in 1,500 US cities, won approval to pay more than $10.2 million (Dh37.4 million) to settle investor lawsuits challenging a buyout by the company's top executive. Delaware Chancery Court Judge Leo Strine Jr approved the accord, which calls for Mediacom CEO Rocco B Commisso to add 25 cents to his $8.75-a share bid for the 60 per cent of the company's shares he didn't already own, said Brian Long, a lawyer for the investors. "We are pleased we were able to recover an additional $10 million for Mediacom shareholders," Long said in an interview. Commisso already owned 40 per cent of Middletown, New York-based Mediacom's Class A and Class B shares and had 87 per cent voting control of the cable provider. He agreed to pay more than $600 million to buy out other shareholders and take the company private. He founded the firm in 1995 and took it public five years later. Calvin Craib, a Media-com spokesman, didn't immediately return a call for comment on the settlement. Commisso, a former banker who specialised in lending to media and communications companies, first bid $6 a share for the company. The board rejected that offer. He boosted the figure to $8.75 after shareholders sued in Delaware and New York, challenging the deal.