Liberty Global’s takeover of Dutch cableco Ziggo has been cleared by the European Commission following a Phase II investigation.
To obtain approval for the acquisition, the pan-European cable giant offered remedies to address certain competition…
Liberty Global’s takeover of Dutch cableco Ziggo has been cleared by the European Commission following a Phase II investigation.
To obtain approval for the acquisition, the pan-European cable giant offered remedies to address certain competition concerns, including the divestment of its Film1 business in the Netherlands.
Liberty Global also pledged to terminate clauses currently in carriage agreements with TV broadcasters that restrict the ability of broadcasters to offer their channels and their content through OTT services, and committed not to end those agreements for eight years.
Furthermore, in order to ensure that commitment cannot be undermined, Liberty Global has committed to maintain adequate interconnection capacity through at least three un-congested routes into its internet network in the country, at least one of which with a large transit provider.
Joaquin Almunia, the Commission’s vice president in charge of competition policy, commented: “The commitments offered by Liberty Global ensure that the acquisition of Ziggo will not be detrimental to Dutch consumers, who will continue to enjoy the benefits of innovative services and choice for watching audio visual content.”
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, said: “We are excited to create a national cable champion, and look forward to restarting our share buyback programme very soon.”
Liberty Global was forced to prolong its public offer for Ziggo shares to 4 November when the European Commission extended its review of the purchase.
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.
The tie-up brings together the Netherlands’ two largest cable operators, although the company’s footprints do not overlap.
In June Liberty launched its €35.74 per share offer, a 47% premium over Ziggo’s closing share price on 27 March. The antitrust authority had set a provisional deadline of 3 November to finish its review of the transaction.
