The European Commission has dismissed a request by the Netherland’s Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) to review Liberty Global’s planned €4.9bn (US$6.7bn) takeover of Dutch cableco Ziggo.
The EU’s antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, said…
The European Commission has dismissed a request by the Netherland’s Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) to review Liberty Global’s planned €4.9bn (US$6.7bn) takeover of Dutch cableco Ziggo.
The EU’s antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, said today that he did not “understand” why the ACM, which argued it knows the local market better, made the request. He told reporters that it was “obvious this is an EU case”.
In late March, the ACM filed a referral request with the EC, arguing it should review the deal because it would have potentially significant effects on competition in regional and national telecoms, internet and TV markets and only “limited” cross-border and wider European consequences.
The EC rejected a similar request from Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, which had asked to review Telefonica’s takeover of mobile operator E-Plus. It has, howerver, in the past approved referral requests of cable mergers in national markets.
At present the EC is conducting its phase I review of the Ziggo deal, and has extended the deadline of the initial investigation until 8 May.
Liberty Global and Ziggo previously said they expect the deal, which was announced in January, to close in the second half of the year. The combined Liberty’s UPC Netherlands/Ziggo will reach about seven million customers – equal to 90% of Dutch households – and generate €2.5bn in total revenue, the companies projected.
