US cable group Liberty Global to buy Virgin Media

by Mark Tyson on 6 February 2013, 11:00

Tags: Virgin (NASDAQ:VMED)

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Liberty Global cable group is owned by US billionaire John Malone. The company already owns cable TV and broadband suppliers in Europe, including in Belgium and Germany. Now with the acquisition of the UK’s Virgin Media it is set to become the world’s largest broadband company “with 25 million customers in 14 countries” reports the BBC. Following the merger, Liberty Global’s HQ will relocate from Delaware, USA to London.

The deal, worth £15 billion ($23.3 billion), is subject to both shareholder approval and the scrutiny of the government’s competitive regulatory body. If everything gets the green light Virgin Media shareholders will benefit from the equivalent of a 24 per cent premium on the value of their shares. (Compared to share values on Monday 4th Feb, before the rumours bumped up the price.)

Mike Fries, chief executive of Liberty Global, said of the deal; “Adding Virgin Media to our large and growing European operations is a natural extension of the value creation strategy we've been successfully using for over seven years.” Virgin Media’s current chief exec, Neil Berkett said “The combined company will be able to grow faster and deliver enhanced returns by capitalising on the exciting opportunities that the digital revolution presents, both in the UK and across Europe.” However Berkett intends to stand down when the merger concludes.

Looking at the UK market, BSkyB has 10.7 million customers compared to Virgin Media’s 4.9 million customer base. Putting the spotlight upon Virgin’s fibre-optic network The Guardian notes that Liberty “will boost investment in the speed of Virgin's fibre-optic network, but is unlikely to seek a major expansion to its UK footprint”. Currently Virgin’s network covers 13 million homes of which 4.9 million are customers.

It is interesting to note that Liberty’s John Malone and Sky owner Rupert Murdoch have clashed before in a battle over the US satellite broadcaster DirecTV Group.



HEXUS Forums :: 39 Comments

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Ah well, there goes another UK company. Not that I'm bothered can't get Virgin Media near me anyhow. What is required is for Virgin to expand their network if they want more customers.
As I said in the other thread about this - about an hour ago, Hexus News, tsk… - This could get tasty. There's bad blood between the head fella of Liberty and Rupert Murdoch, so hopefully the fallout will be cheaper stuff for us…
i hope this doesn't mean a reduction in the speed rollout, slower speeds, higher prices, less download allowance before STM, the end to “unlimited” etc, and it makes things better to compete with sky etc. if they just leave everything as-is then fine, but i doubt that will happen
They were saying in the news this morning that Liberty have stated they are interested in the broadband side of things, and they firmly believe in faster broadband as a way to compete.

I agree with GingerNinja, they really need a significant expansion of their network, like into more cities, not just a expanding into more streets in existing areas.
This could be a big advantage for the UK market - particularly if they *finally* sort out their awful CS and internal processes..particularly with American owners, I can hold out a little hope for this.

Fingers crossed they invest and work hard to get some more/better content and actually retain customers. Their broadband business is surprisingly good (compared to their awful TV service) and has improved a lot in recent years. They are one of the best broadband providers in the UK, only really beaten by BT in speed terms - i hope that doesn't change…it's one area Sky are terrible in so they really need to keep that advantage.