Liberty Global has extended its public offer for Ziggo shares as it awaits the outcome of the European Commission’s investigation of the takeover.
Liberty struck a deal to buy the Dutch cableco for €4.9bn (US$6.6bn) earlier this year and merge it…
Liberty Global has extended its public offer for Ziggo shares as it awaits the outcome of the European Commission’s investigation of the takeover.
Liberty struck a deal to buy the Dutch cableco for €4.9bn (US$6.6bn) earlier this year and merge it with its own local cable assets, UPC Netherlands.
In June Liberty launched its €35.74 per share offer, a 47% premium over Ziggo’s closing share price on 27 March, which was set to run until 10 September.
However, Liberty’s offer is conditional upon receiving regulatory clearance to acquire Ziggo and, as the EC is yet to conclude its review of the deal, Liberty has chosen to extend the offer period to 4 November.
The antitrust authority has set a provisional deadline of 3 November to finish its review of the transaction.
Liberty proposed remedies to the EC in early July. Its package reportedly included offering to sell pay-TV channel Film1, and pledging not to block OTT service providers from using its internet network, either contractually or technically, for four years.
A Bloomberg report published at the end of August said that Liberty was poised to win regulatory approval after pledging to divest Film1, citing people familiar with the EC’s probe.
