GRANADA Media has dismissed as "pure speculation" reports that Morgan Stanley Dean Witter has been appointed to manage the IPO of ONdigital, the media unit Granada Media and Carlton Communications both have 50% stakes in. The deal is expected to raise about £600m and come to market in the second half of this year. "The IPO is going to happen," said a new media analyst in London. "When Charles Allen [chairman of Granada Media] bought the United TV assets earlier this year, he said the ONdigital IPO was very much on the agenda, and he recently reaffirmed that."
August 18, 2000