The European Commission (EC) has started its review of Liberty Global’s (LGI’s) planned takeover of the Netherlands’ largest cableco Ziggo, although the agency might refer the review to the Dutch authorities subsequently.
An EC spokesperson…
The European Commission (EC) has started its review of Liberty Global’s (LGI’s) planned takeover of the Netherlands’ largest cableco Ziggo, although the agency might refer the review to the Dutch authorities subsequently.
An EC spokesperson confirmed that formal notification of the deal was made, kick-starting the antitrust review.
“The Commission now has 25 working days, until 23 April, to take a decision on this case,” the spokesperson said.
The EC will need to decide by that date whether to approve the deal or launch a more in-depth, phase two investigation.
However the Dutch regulator, Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM), intends to ask the EC to refer the case within the next 15 working days, an ACM spokesperson said. The authority believes it should carry out the review as the deal affects mainly the Dutch market and it has the right expertise, according to the spokesperson.
In 2007, Dutch authorities reviewed the merger that created Ziggo from three local operators: @Home, Casema and Multikabel.
While the EC has in the past years refused to pass on the reviews of mergers of mobile operators including the Orange Austria/Three and the more recent E-Plus/O2 Germany case, the regulator has in some cases approved such requests in horizontal, in-country cable mergers.
Liberty Global and Ziggo announced the planned €4.9bn (US$6.7bn) deal, which will see the expanding Europe-focused cableco acquire the 71.5% of Ziggo shares it does not already own, in late January. At the time, LGI, which owns the nation’s second-largest cableco UPC Netherlands, said the combined business will reach about seven million customers – 90% of Dutch households – and has €2.5bn in total revenue.
Liberty CEO Mike Fries said on a conference call in February that the company was in the early stages of discussions with the Dutch regulator and the European Commission and was confident they would treat the case in a “rational way”. He said he was confident the deal would secure regulatory approval in time for it to close in the second half of the year.
