Kabel Deutschland (KDG) expects to file its proposed €618m takeover of Tele Columbus with the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) this month. The buyer hopes to receive a decision from the regulator before the end of the year.
A spokesperson for KDG…
Kabel Deutschland (KDG) expects to file its proposed €618m takeover of Tele Columbus with the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) this month. The buyer hopes to receive a decision from the regulator before the end of the year.
A spokesperson for KDG said that preparations for the filing are underway, and formal notification will likely come at one point in July.
The deal is widely expected to require some type of remedies by the merging parties to address antitrust concerns.
A banker familiar with the German cable sector told TelecomFinance previously that KDG was aware that it would have to offer divestments to appease regulators.
The KDG spokesperson said today it was too early to discuss the matter in public.
However, the cableco has already signalled that it expects intense scrutiny by the antitrust authority, saying a decision is only expected in Q4.
First phase FCO investigations take one month, at the end of which by far most transactions are cleared. Only if the regulator has serious doubts at the end of this phase, it will open an in-depth phase II investigation, thereby extending the timetable for a decision by four months.
Last year, the FCO conditionally cleared the takeover of Kabel BW by Liberty Global’s Unitymedia. After a five months long investigation, the regulator allowed the transaction to go ahead, following agreement on far-reaching remedies. Those included special contract termination rights for housing associations, enabling them to change to a competing cable provider. To address concerns on the feed-in market, Liberty also had to stop encrypting digital free TV programmes, thereby making it easier for rivals to compete for retail TV service contracts.
