Virgin Media, the UK"s leading cable television company, is set to be taken private for more than £5.5bn.
Carlyle, one of the world"s leading private equity groups, has made a preliminary offer of between $33 (£16.50) to $35 per share for Virgin.
Shares in Virgin, which is listed on the US Nasdaq rather than in London, closed on Friday at $24.37 per share.
Sir Richard Branson is the largest investor in Virgin Media, which has 9m customers and a £4bn annual turnover.
The offer would value Virgin at approximately £5.6bn.
The total value of the takeover deal, including Virgin"s debt of almost £6bn, would be about £11.5bn.
If it goes through, it would be the second biggest takeover of a British business by private equity, after Boots.