Charles Bracken, co-CFO of US based cabelco Liberty Global, has defended the proposed takeover of German Kabel BW.
In an interview with Bloomberg he described the proposed merger, which would reduce the number of major German cablecos from three to two,…
Charles Bracken, co-CFO of US based cabelco Liberty Global, has defended the proposed takeover of German Kabel BW.
In an interview with Bloomberg he described the proposed merger, which would reduce the number of major German cablecos from three to two, as being in the interest of German consumers and of the industry as a whole.
“Essentially we are trying to create a counterweight to the biggest telecoms company in Europe, Deutsche Telekom, which as we all know has immense firepower,” Bracken said.
The proposed merger is currently subject to an in-depth review by the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO), which recently issued a Statement of Objections. The FCO currently takes the view that the deal would strengthen a dominant oligopoly on Germany’s licensing market, and it also said there are concerns with regards to the signal delivery market.
Bracken argued that reducing the number of major competitors from three to two was in line with market developments in other countries, and that many countries had a single national player only.
“Germany is really the anomaly, rather than the rule,” he said.
Asked about the FCO review Bracken said that Liberty is in a constructive dialogue with the regulator, adding that he was confident that a satisfactory outcome can be reached. He also repeated that Liberty had offered “a number” of concessions to address antitrust concerns, without going into detail.
At the end of last week Lutz Schüler, CEO of Liberty’s German subsidiary Unitymedia, had said proposed remedies include distributing digital signals from free-to-air private channels unencrypted to third parties. Schüler also said the company would not increase prices for TV stations that require access to Unitymedia’s cable network.
Deadline for the antitrust review is 15 December.
Speaking more generally about current market conditions, the CFO said that Liberty had support from financial markets to finance another acquisition if necessary. He added however that there are no immediate plans to do so in the near term. The company was currently focussed on closing the outstanding transactions.
