Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries has signalled interest in acquiring German regional cableco Tele Columbus.
He cautioned however that any deal would depend on price and the view taken by the Federal Cartel Office on further consolidation, as it would have…
Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries has signalled interest in acquiring German regional cableco Tele Columbus.
He cautioned however that any deal would depend on price and the view taken by the Federal Cartel Office on further consolidation, as it would have to approve an acquisition.
Liberty already owns German Unitymedia, and an attempt by competitor Kabel Deutschland to acquire Tele Columbus was blocked by the antitrust regulator in early 2013.
Fries, who made the remarks in an interview with German publication Boersen-Zeitung, said Liberty has a war chest of US$8bn to finance major acquisitions, adding that those were most likely to happen to increase its share in existing markets. Germany is the cableco’s most important market, he noted.
As reported previously, Tele Columbus is said to have invited banks to participate in an IPO it is considering in the second half of the year. The cableco reported sales of €224m in 2013 and EBITDA of €90m.
