German cableco Kabel Deutschland (KDG) does no longer expect a decision by the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) with regards to the takeover of Tele Columbus this year.
In a quarterly results call with analysts today the company said that it has…
German cableco Kabel Deutschland (KDG) does no longer expect a decision by the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) with regards to the takeover of Tele Columbus this year.
In a quarterly results call with analysts today the company said that it has agreed with the regulator to push back the deadline for a decision to mid January.
The proposed merger was filed at the end of August, and a standard in-depth investigation would have required a decision by the end of the year. KDG CFO Andreas Siemen said in the conference call that in order to avoid a conflict with the holiday season they company agreed to delay the final deadline.
It was pushed back by two weeks, “and we will see how long it will take potentially beyond that,” he said.
Discussions with the regulator are continuing, and the process is running “as expected”.
KDG agreed to buy Tele Columbus for €618m in May 2012. A filing with the regulator was initially expected in July already, but was delayed several times to late August. One month later the FCO launched a second phase in-depth investigation.
KDG had previously said that it expects an FCO decision before Christmas and that it plans to close the transaction in Q1/2013.
Asked if the company would consider further reaching remedies than those offered by Unitymedia when acquiring Kabel BW, specifically by scarifying the call-by-call option for telephony customers, the executives on the call refused to comment.
