US private equity house Warburg Pincus is reportedly close to hiring Rene Obermann, Ziggo’s CEO and the former head of Deutsche Telekom, to work on M&A deals.
Obermann began at Ziggo in January, shortly before Liberty Global moved to acquire the Dutch…
US private equity house Warburg Pincus is reportedly close to hiring Rene Obermann, Ziggo’s CEO and the former head of Deutsche Telekom, to work on M&A deals.
Obermann began at Ziggo in January, shortly before Liberty Global moved to acquire the Dutch cableco for €4.9bn (US$6.6bn).
The takeover looks set to complete by the end of the year and, when it does, Obermann will leave his post and move to Warburg Pincus’ London office, the Financial Times reported citing people with knowledge of the move.
Obermann’s focus would be on finding private equity deals in the telecoms sector and in Germany for the firm, the report said.
Warburg Pincus declined to comment on the matter.
In May German publication Manager Magazin reported that Obermann was in talks to take up a role at another US private equity firm, General Atlantic.
Warburg Pincus still held a stake in Ziggo when the board named Obermann as CEO of the cableco in March 2013, well ahead of when he began in the role at the start of this year. The firm, alongside fellow investor Cinven, had listed Ziggo the previous March and gradually reduced their stakes in the operator, finally exiting it in April last year.
Yesterday, the European Commission restarted its analysis of the Liberty/Ziggo deal, after putting it on hold for a couple of weeks. The review is expected to end on 3 November.
