US-based cableco Liberty Global has raised its stake in Belgium’s Telenet from 50.2% to about 58.4%, falling far short of the full takeover it had hoped to achieve as part of its tender offer.
Liberty announced that nearly 9.5 million ordinary shares…
US-based cableco Liberty Global has raised its stake in Belgium’s Telenet from 50.2% to about 58.4%, falling far short of the full takeover it had hoped to achieve as part of its tender offer.
Liberty announced that nearly 9.5 million ordinary shares and 3,000 warrants were tendered into the voluntary and conditional cash offer, carried out by subsidiary Binvan Investments.
The US company launched its €35 (US$45.30) per share offer for the remaining shares and other securities in Telenet it did not already own in late December, valuing the 49.8% stake at about €2bn (US$2.5bn). Telenet’s board responded by reiterating its earlier contention that the offer does not reflect the value of the company and its prospects. Shortly before the tender deadline, two of the Belgian cableco’s largest shareholders declared they would not accept the offer, which Liberty has declined to raise.
Following acceptance of the tendered shares, Liberty said it will own just over 66.3 million shares and 3,000 warrants in Telenet, representing about 58.4% of the company’s issued and outstanding shares, excluding the 220,352 treasury shares held by Telenet.
Announcing the results of the tender offer, Liberty reiterated its intention to align Telenet’s strategy and operations with its own. The multinational said it is reviewing the Belgian company’s current organisation, governance and reporting structure with a view to integrating its management more fully with its other European operations. Telenet’s leverage policy will be aligned with that of Liberty, putting its target leverage at 4.0x to 5.0x net total debt to annualised EBITDA, excluding financial leases. Liberty noted that this may increase Telenet’s indebtedness to a higher level than the target range.
Commenting on developments, Liberty president and CEO Mark Fries said the company remains “committed to investing in growth opportunities for Telenet, maintaining its position as a leading innovator in the Belgian market, and delivering best-in-class services to its customers”.
“We believe that this is the right time for Telenet to be more closely integrated within our pan-European platform and, in an environment where scale is paramount, we believe that closer integration will benefit all Telenet stakeholders,” he said.
At the time of writing, Telenet’s shares were up 0.01% to €35.77.
