Liberty Global has completed its €325m acquisition of NTL Ireland, following approval of the acquisition by the Competition Authority.
Liberty completed the acquisition of NTL through its acquisition of MS Irish Cable Holdings BV. Liberty Global has already acquired cable and content companies in Romania and Holland, and recently closed an acquisition of Cablecom, one of the largest cable operators in Switzerland.
The company acquired Irish cable firm Chorus last year for €55m and beat a number of consortiums to the post of acquiring NTL Ireland for €325m with Morgan Stanley buying the firm on behalf of Liberty pending the Competition Authority’s approval of the acquisition.
As of 30 September, NTL Ireland had approximately 375,100 revenue-generating units (RGUs) including 358,700 video RGUs and 16,400 broadband internet RGUs. At the same time Chorus served 201,100 RGUs.
Commenting on the completion of the acquisition process, Liberty Global president and CEO Mike Fries commented: “We are pleased to have completed this important transaction in Ireland, one of the fastest-growing economies in Western Europe. With NTL Ireland and Chorus we have a leading broadband platform in Ireland.
“The new combination creates the basis for further growth and innovation. The transaction provides significant opportunities to modernise and leverage the current cable and MMDS networks, technology operations and back-office systems and will accelerate the introduction of new products and services,” Fries said.
By John Kennedy
