Liberty Global in €3.5bn Unity Media purchase


November 13, 2009

Liberty Global is to purchase the German cablenet Unity Media for €3.5 billion. Its private equity owners Finakabel Holdings/BC Partners and Apollo Management were expected to launch an IPO with yesterday (November 11), when the operator announced its third quarter results, being named as the most likely date for an announcement.

Unity Media is the second largest cable network in Germany after Kabel Deutschland.It operates the regional networks that were formerly owned by Deutsche Telekom Telekom in Hesse and Northrhine-Westphalia.

The binding agreement places an equity value of €2 billion on Unity Media GmbH and an enterprise value of €3.5 billion. The transaction is scheduled to complete in the first half of 2010 and is subject to regulatory approval.

“This transaction marks an exciting new phase in Unitymedia’s development and brings significant benefits to our customers, employees and other stakeholders,” said Parm Sandhu, CEO, Unity Media GmbH. “It reinforces Unitymedia’s successful strategy to exploit the significant growth potential in Germany’s under-penetrated broadband and pay-TV markets. As part of the world’s largest international cable company, Unitymedia and its customers will benefit significantly from increased access to new technologies, research and development from across the globe. With LGI’s backing Unitymedia will become an even stronger competitive force in the newly emerging triple play market and will continue to play a leading role in transforming Germany’s cable industry long into the future.”

UBS Investment Bank acted as lead financial advisor to Unitymedia in the transaction. Unitymedia was also assisted by Morgan Stanley, Nomura, HVB and Latham & Watkins.

Unity Media was advised by UBS Investment Bank as a Senior Financial and Morgan Stanley, Nomura, HVB and Latham & Watkins.