Liberty Global to spin-off Sunrise to its shareholders
FEBRUARY 16, 2024 14.20 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

Liberty Global has announced plans to sell off its Swiss business Sunrise to its shareholders in a move it says will broaden the investor base of the two companies.

Liberty combined with Sunrise in 2020; it is in the process of completing 200 job losses due to synergies resulting from the merger.

“The proposed spin-off of Sunrise to Liberty Global shareholders is aligned with our strategy of unlocking value by allowing our shareholders to directly participate in the future performance of Sunrise,” said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries. “Liberty is fully committed to listing Sunrise with a strong capital structure which, alongside its future cash generation potential, will underpin Sunrise’s attractive equity story and scope for dividends.”

Sunrise has achieved a position as the clear number two operator in the Swiss market across fixed, mobile and converged products. It is delivering nationwide 5G and 1 GIG coverage both under its own moniker and secondary brand yallo.

Sunrise CEO André Krause commented: ‘We are excited at the prospect of being listed in Switzerland once again and providing local and international investors with access to our scaled FMC challenger position in the market. Following the successful integration and synergy delivery of the UPC combination, Sunrise has a very strong FCF profile and plans to offer an attractive shareholder remuneration framework.”

More details will be presented at a Capital Markets Day later this year.