Liberty Global said it intends to launch a voluntary and conditional public takeover bid for all the shares of Belgian operator Telenet Group that it does not already own or that are not held by Telenet.
In a release, Liberty Global noted that it expects to launch this bid through its wholly-owned subsidiary Liberty Global Belgium Holding.
Liberty Global has been the controlling shareholder of Telenet since February 2007 and currently owns 59.18% of Telenet’s share capital, while Telenet owns 3.12% of the outstanding issued share capital in treasury.
Liberty Global also said the intended offer would be an offer in cash at a price of 22 euros ($23.7) per share.
Telenet’s board of directors unanimously supports and recommends the intended offer.
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, said: “We believe an offer of 22 euros per share provides a good opportunity for Telenet shareholders to monetize their investment at an attractive premium. We welcome the unanimous decision of Telenet’s board of directors to support and recommend this offer. We are proud of how Telenet has evolved in recent years, and we are fully committed to Belgium and all the company’s stakeholders.”
The company also said that the purchase of shares will be funded by non-recourse debt financing obtained by Liberty Global Belgium Holding.
Belgian operator Telenet started the gradual deployment of its 5G network in the country in December 2021.
At the time of the launch, Telenet said that the first 5G zones will be located around Leuven, Antwerp and the coast. In the course of 2022, the 5G network was expected to be expanded to the major Flemish cities.
The Belgian telco had said that its 5G network is expected to reach nationwide coverage by 2025. In March 2021, Telenet had selected Ericsson, Nokia and Google Cloud as its 5G network suppliers. Ericsson provided the Radio Access Network and Nokia the core network, while certain core functions were developed with Google Cloud.
Telenet provides cable TV, broadband, fixed and mobile telephone services, primarily to residential customers in Flanders and Brussels.
Last year, the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) auctioned frequencies for 5G services in the 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz bands, and 2G and 3G spectrum in 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.1 GHz, generating 1.2 billion euros.
In this process, local operators Citymesh Mobile, Network Research Belgium, Orange Belgium, Proximus and Telenet Group secured 5G frequencies for a period of 20 years.
Source: rcrwireless.com
