Liberty Global has confirmed that it has entered into discussions regarding a possible cash-and-shares offer to take over UK-based telecoms group Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC). The two companies have been in talks for some time about bringing together CWC’s strong position in the Caribbean with Liberty’s operations in Chile and Puerto Rico, according to unnamed sources cited by the Financial Times. The sources added that negotiations have centred around a price of USD 5.5 billion, with Liberty also assuming CWC’s net debt of around USD 2.6 billion. According to UK law, Liberty now has until 19 November to submit an offer.
The possible deal comes after Liberty Global announced that it had ended discussions with Vodafone about an exchange or combination of assets, although it did agree to acquire Belgium’s third-largest operator Base for EUR 1.33 billion earlier this year, a deal that is currently under investigation by the European Commission. Liberty Global’s chairman and largest shareholder, John Malone, already owns 19 percent of CWC after the UK group completed its EUR 1.85 billion acquisition of Columbus International on 31 March, while other backers of Liberty Global own a further 16 percent of CWC.
Liberty has around 1.5 million customers in Puerto Rico (Cablevision) and Chile (VTR) and had considered spinning off its Latin American and Caribbean units but instead launched a tracking stock for its operations in the region (the LiLAC Group), which started trading on 02 July.
Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/liberty-global-confirms-cable-and-wireless-takeover-bid--1109439