Competition issues in the city of Krakow are delaying the closing of the sale of Polish cable operator Aster to Liberty Global, Broadbandtvnews reports citing local media.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is reportedly keen to…
Competition issues in the city of Krakow are delaying the closing of the sale of Polish cable operator Aster to Liberty Global, Broadbandtvnews reports citing local media.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is reportedly keen to see Liberty Global sell Aster’s Krakow business where Liberty-owned UPC Polska would gain a competitive advantage over rival operators. With the acquisition, UPC would also become the largest cableco in Poland with twice as many users as the second largest operator, Vectra.
UOKiK press officer Agnieszka Majchrzak said in an email: “UOKiK has not ended the investigation yet. At this moment the Office carries out negotiations with the company. We hope that this will be the final stage of talks.” The press officer refused to comment further on potential decisions or ongoing negotiations.
A spokesperson at Liberty said: “We are in a constructive dialogue with UOKiK and we hope to find a resolution for the issues raised by UOKiK taking into account the highly competitive communications market in Poland.”
Liberty Global agreed to buy Aster from Mid Europa Partner for PLN2.4bn (US$875m) last December. The deal consists of an equity purchase price of PLN870m (US$317m) and about PLN1.53bn (US$558m) in debt.
At the end of September 2010, Aster had 368,000 TV, 177,000 internet and 70,000 fixed-line subscribers.
Although most of its subscribers are in Warsaw, Aster also reportedly has 50,000-60,000 clients in Krakow.
Mid Europa was advised by Credit Suisse, while Liberty Global did not use any external financial adviser but received legal counsel from Allen & Overy.
Liberty did not reply to request for comments before press time.
