Liberty Global to Acquire Unitymedia
Liberty Global today announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Unitymedia GmbH ("Unitymedia”), Germany’s second largest cable operator.
Unitymedia’s cable footprint, passing approximately 8.8 million homes, covers ten of the twenty largest cities in Germany, including Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Frankfurt. At September 30, 2009, Unitymedia reported approximately 6.4 million RGUs (as defined by Unitymedia), including 4.5 million analog and digital basic cable subscribers and 1.9 million new service RGUs (digital TV Pay, retail broadband internet, wholesale MMA Internet, and telephony).
Liberty Global will acquire 100 percent of the shares of Unitymedia for an equity purchase price of €2.0 billion ($3.0 billion). Together with Unitymedia’s reported net debt at September 30, 2009 of approximately €1.5 billion ($2.2 billion), the total consideration is approximately €3.5 billion ($5.2 billion).
Completion of the transaction is expected to occur in the first half of 2010 and is subject to regulatory approval.
Liberty Global is an international cable operator offering advanced video, voice and broadband Internet services. As of September 30, 2009, Liberty Global operated networks that served approximately 17 million customers across 14 countries principally located in Europe, Japan, Chile, and Australia.
