Cableco Kabel Deutschland (KDG) has offered to the German antitrust authority to divest assets to address concerns in relation to the acquisition of counterpart Tele Columbus. The deadline for the ongoing investigation has been pushed back to 25…
Cableco Kabel Deutschland (KDG) has offered to the German antitrust authority to divest assets to address concerns in relation to the acquisition of counterpart Tele Columbus. The deadline for the ongoing investigation has been pushed back to 25 February.
The company said it is prepared to sell network assets currently owned by Tele Columbus in the German cities of Berlin, Dresden and Cottbus, “with more than 430 thousand homes connected including the respective housing association contracts”.
This would reduce the size of the transaction from originally 2.1 million homes connected by approximately 20%, and reduce the number of 1.6 million subscribers by 330,000.
The remedies are now subject to a market test during which interested parties will have the opportunity to comment on the package.
In a conference call with investors KDG CFO Andreas Siemen said most of the disposal candidates are in regions where there was a direct overlap between Tele Columbus and KDG.
Siemen did not want to give financial details such as turnover or profit of the assets that are part of the package.
The remedies package is the result of a “statement of objections” issued by the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) in early December. In the document the FCO had outlined why it intends to block the takeover unless antitrust concerns are addressed by disposals.
