Royal KPN Succeeds in Appeal Against 2014 Merger of Rival Telecom Firms

By Adam Clark

The European Union's General Court on Thursday ruled in favor of Royal KPN NV (KPN.AE) in its appeal against the

2014 merger approval between its Dutch telecommunications rivals UPC and Ziggo, an entity now owned by Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA).

The court ruled that Royal KPN was correct in its plea that the European Commission failed to give its reasons for not analyzing the potential anticompetition effects of the merger. The court has ordered the European Commission to pay Royal KPN's costs.

The decision means the merger will now have to be cleared again, despite the fact the merged UPC-Ziggo entity has since been combined with Vodafone Group PLC's (VOD.LN) operations in the Netherlands. The ruling was not related to the later merger.

Liberty Global--which owns the VodafoneZiggo entity in a joint venture with Vodafone--said the decision has no impact on the day-to-day operations of the telecommunications company and that it will discuss practical steps with the European Commission over the coming weeks.

KPN was not immediately available for comment.

Shares in Royal KPN at 1114 GMT were up EUR0.03, or 1.1%, at EUR3.00.

Write to Adam Clark at [e-mail]; @AdamDowJones

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2017 07:47 ET (11:47 GMT)

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