Jan 23 (Reuters) - T. Rowe Price Group sent a letter this week to Time Warner Cable urging the cable company to have talks with smaller cable provider Charter about a possible deal, according to people familiar with the matter.
As of Sept. 30, T. Rowe owned 5.16 percent of Charter shares and 2.3 percent of Time Warner Cable shares. T. Rowe is Time Warner Cable's eighth-largest shareholder and Charter's third-largest shareholder, the latest publicly available filings show, according to Thomson One.
T. Rowe is the first shareholder to send a letter to Time Warner Cable management since Charter made its approach with a $37.3 billion offer, one of the people said.
Members of Time Warner Cable's board have read the letter, but their reaction was not immediately clear, sources said.
It also wasn't clear whether T. Rowe was urging Time Warner Cable to consider a deal at a specific price.
Representatives from Charter, T. Rowe Price and Liberty Media declined to comment. A spokeswoman from Time Warner Cable said, "Time Warner Cable has an active, ongoing dialogue with many of its shareholders."
Charter, backed by billionaire John Malone's Liberty Media Corp, announced its $132.50 per share bid for Time Warner Cable on Jan 13, which the larger rival promptly rejected as too low. Time Warner Cable responded that it was open to a deal at $160 per share.
The Financial Times first reported the news on Thursday.