By Soyoung Kim and Liana B. Baker
NEW YORK, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp hasadded Barclays Plc as an adviser as it evaluates apotential deal for Time Warner Cable Inc, according topeople familiar with the matter.
Comcast, the top U.S. cable company, hired Barclays latelast year to review its deal options, along with JPMorgan Chase& Co, which it had earlier tapped for advice, the peoplesaid.
The people asked not to be named because the matter is notpublic. Representatives from Comcast and Barclays declined tocomment.
Reuters reported on Dec. 6 that Comcast brought in JPMorganas speculation about cable industry consolidation increased inthe prior several months.
After six months of an unsuccessful pursuit, CharterCommunications Inc made a formal offer to buy TimeWarner Cable for $132.50 per share, or $37.3 billion, based onshares outstanding.
Charter approached Comcast last week to discuss carving upTime Warner Cable's systems and subscribers, after thesecond-largest U.S. cable company rejected its offer, Reutersreported.. Comcast also has been weighing a bidof its own.
A deal for Time Warner Cable, if consummated, would generatehandsome payouts for the banks involved, as well asmuch-sought-after bragging rights that come with a marqueetransaction.
In a successful deal, banks advising Charter would splitroughly $74 million to $92 million in advisory fees while TimeWarner Cable's advisers could reap $81 million to $101 million,according to preliminary estimates by consulting firm Freeman &Co LLC.
Charter's financing banks - led by Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit SuisseGroup and Deutsche Bank - would also share$325 million to $445 million in financing fees, Freeman & Coestimates.
Charter has said it is lining up $20.5 billion in new debtand also arranging $3.5 billion in bridge financing.
Estimating potential fees for Comcast's advisers isdifficult since its deal plans are not yet public.
Time Warner Cable is working with Morgan Stanley,Allen & Company and Citigroup. Charter has turned toGoldman Sachs and LionTree as lead financial advisers, and isworking with other advisers that include Guggenheim Securities,Bank of America, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.
Charter, the No. 4 U.S. cable provider, and Comcast are inpreliminary discussions about how to structure a potentialalliance, Reuters reported last week. One possibility is thatCharter buys all of Time Warner Cable and sells off some of itsmarkets and subscribers to Comcast.
It was not immediately clear which geographic markets areunder discussion, but analysts have said that Comcast would beinterested in Time Warner Cable's largest markets, such as NewYork and Los Angeles.
Time Warner Cable, which has said it was open to a deal atthe right price - or $160 per share - considers Comcast to bethe best merger partner because the larger rival can afford tomake an all-cash offer and provides a better geographic fit,separate people familiar with the matter have said.
Time Warner Cable was trading at $134.50 late on Tuesday.
Barclays (BARC)