Europe-focused cable giant Liberty Global (LGI) is reportedly close to reaching an agreement to acquire Dutch cableco Ziggo.
LGI, controlled by US billionaire John Malone, and Amsterdam-listed Ziggo are working out the final deal value and terms and…
Europe-focused cable giant Liberty Global (LGI) is reportedly close to reaching an agreement to acquire Dutch cableco Ziggo.
LGI, controlled by US billionaire John Malone, and Amsterdam-listed Ziggo are working out the final deal value and terms and could announce an agreement as early as mid-January, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.
At the time of writing, Ziggo shares were up 3.6% to €33.80 (US$46.07), valuing the company at about €6.76bn (US$9.21bn).
Spokespeople for LGI and Ziggo – the Netherlands’ largest cableco – have declined to comment.
Ziggo confirmed in December that it was back in takeover talks with LGI, which has built a 28.5% in the company and owns rival UPC Netherlands. This came two months after Ziggo rejected a takeover offer from the larger company, describing it as inadequate.
According to the report, outstanding issues include whether new Ziggo CEO Rene Obermann, formerly CEO of Deutsche Telekom, would stay on if the deal goes ahead. How to protect jobs when Ziggo and UPC are combined is also reportedly under discussion.
In November, LGI CFO Charles Bracken told investors at a Barcelona conference that the company was still considering a combination with Ziggo, noting that there are clear synergies with UPC Netherlands. Bracken also stressed that LGI is “very disciplined about prices”.
Earlier last year, reports indicated that LGI was planning a full takeover of Ziggo, aiming to combine it with UPC Netherlands and Belgium’s Telenet, which it also controls.
In 2013, LGI added to its European portfolio by buying UK cableco Virgin Media for US$23.3bn. The company also made a preliminary bid for Germany’s Kabel Deutschland, but lost out to Vodafone.
