Liberty Global subsidiaries are reportedly seeking to raise financing to help fund a reorganisation of the cable giant’s European operations.
The reorganisation will see Liberty’s UPC Netherlands merge with newly-acquired Dutch subsidiary Ziggo, and…
Liberty Global subsidiaries are reportedly seeking to raise financing to help fund a reorganisation of the cable giant’s European operations.
The reorganisation will see Liberty’s UPC Netherlands merge with newly-acquired Dutch subsidiary Ziggo, and UPC Ireland combine with the UK’s Virgin Media, IFR cited sources close to the matter as saying.
Cableco Ziggo is raising €730m (US$862.7m) of new senior bonds to finance the Dutch merger, while Virgin Media is seeking £300m (US$454.2m) of secured bonds and £625m (US$946.2m) of unsecured bonds to finance its purchase of UPC Ireland, the report stated.
Meanwhile, Liberty is reportedly offering to exchange up to €1.475bn (US$1.7bn) of UPC loans into new loans to be issued by a Ziggo special purpose vehicle.
Removing some businesses from the pan-European UPC credit pool should reduce the likelihood of some high-yield buyers reaching issuer concentration limits.
Last February, Ziggo completed a bond exchange offer to help finance the Liberty takeover which, according to ratings agencies, included provisions allowing for a future merger with UPC Netherlands.
John Malone’s Liberty acquired Virgin Media in 2013 for US$23.3bn and, last year, struck a deal to buy Ziggo for €4.9bn (US$6.6bn). The European Commission cleared the Ziggo deal last October.
Liberty has operations in a total 14 countries.
