Vodafone in Talks to Buy European Assets From Liberty Global -- Update

By Stu Woo and Ben Dummett 

LONDON -- British wireless giant Vodafone Group PLC on Friday said it is in talks to acquire European assets from Liberty Global PLC, John Malone's international cable company.

Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said it is in early-stage discussions and that there was no certainty a deal would occur.

A Liberty Global spokesman declined to comment. Vodafone's stock rose nearly 3% while Liberty Global's stock rose about 6% in the late afternoon in Britain.

Vodafone said the talks centered on assets in continental Europe, where the two companies have overlapping businesses. Both companies operate in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. Liberty has already taken recent steps to prune some of its assets in continental Europe. In December, it announced a EUR1.9 billion ($2.36 billion) deal to sell its cable operations in Austria to Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG.

In addition, the two sides in 2016 merged their Dutch operations in a 50-50 joint venture. Since then, the chief executives of both companies, Vodafone's Vittorio Colao and Liberty Global's Mike Fries, have repeatedly praised their relationship.

"I would agree with Vittorio: It's been a good relationship," Mr. Fries said at a Morgan Stanley conference in November.

London-based Vodafone spreads its operations throughout more than 20 countries, including in Europe, Africa and Asia. It has increasingly invested in buying and laying down its own cables to offer television and internet services.

Liberty Global, registered in London but run out of Mr. Malone's hometown outside Denver, is the world's biggest international cable company, concentrating its operations across 30 countries in Europe and Latin America. It has increasingly invested in offering its own wireless service.

Vodafone on Friday said it isn't considering a full merger with Liberty Global, a classic Malone company with a lean management structure and a strategy to grow via debt-fueled acquisitions. Asset swaps would be easier; Mr. Colao recently said Vodafone's cable network barely overlaps with Liberty Global's in Germany, for instance.

Write to Stu Woo at [e-mail] and Ben Dummett at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2018 12:23 ET (17:23 GMT)

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