Vodafone Group Plc REGULATORY CLEARANCE-ACQ OF LIBERTY GLOBAL ASSETS (9813F)
18 Julio 2019 - 4:13AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMVOD
RNS Number : 9813F
Vodafone Group Plc
18 July 2019
VODAFONE WELCOMES REGULATORY CLEARANCE FOR THE ACQUISITION OF
LIBERTY GLOBAL'S ASSETS IN GERMANY, CZECH REPUBLIC, HUNGARY &
ROMANIA
London, 18 July 2019 - Vodafone Group confirms that the European
Commission has cleared its acquisition of Liberty Global's
operations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
Following completion of the EUR18.4 billion transaction, Vodafone
will become Europe's leading converged operator, with 116.3 million
mobile customers, 24.2 million broadband customers and 22.1 million
TV customers across 13 European countries.(1)
Vodafone will own the largest next-generation network in Europe,
as well as one of the continent's largest TV platforms, and more
than half of Group revenues will come from fixed and converged
services. As a leading European technology communications champion,
the company will be able to accelerate the delivery of the Gigabit
society to over 100 million people across the continent.
Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said: "With the European
Commission's approval of this transaction, Vodafone transforms into
Europe's largest fully-converged communications operator,
accelerating innovation through our gigabit networks and bringing
greater benefits to millions of customers in Germany, the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Romania. This is a significant step toward
enabling truly digital societies for our customers."
In Germany, Vodafone will deliver gigabit mobile speeds to 20
million people by 2021 and fixed gigabit connections to 25 million
households by 2022. The combined company will be well placed to
help deliver the German government's digital ambitions, providing
sustainable and effective competition and choice in digital
infrastructure and converged services. As previously announced,
Vodafone has also entered into a wholesale cable agreement to
provide broadband services, with download speeds of up to 300 Mbps,
to Telefónica Deutschland.
The transaction will also bring forward the provision of
converged communications services in Central and Eastern Europe,
increasing competition and customer choice, acting as a catalyst
for further innovation in terms of both network and service
provision and making the digital society a reality. In these
markets, the combined businesses will upgrade their fixed gigabit
networks to reach over 6.4 million homes (39% of total households)
in the coming years.
The transaction is expected to generate cost and capex synergies
with a net present value of over EUR6 billion after integration
costs, and revenue synergies with an NPV exceeding EUR1.5 billion
from cross selling to the combined customer base. Together with the
standalone growth potential of the acquired assets, these synergies
support double-digit free cash flow per share accretion (before
integration costs) from the third year post completion for Vodafone
Group.(2)
Following the European Commission's approval, which is
conditional on the implementation of the agreed remedy package, the
transaction is now expected to complete by 31 July 2019.
- ends -
1. Pro-forma as of 31 March 2019
2. Based on free cash flow after normalised spectrum costs.
Assuming the shares issued in March 2019 under the terms of the
Mandatory Convertible Bonds are bought back at maturity, the
Transaction is expected to be double-digit accretive to Group free
cash flow from the third year post completion (after cost and capex
synergies and before integration costs).
For further information:
Vodafone Group
Media Relations Investor Relations
www.vodafone.com/media/contact ir@vodafone.co.uk
About Vodafone Group
Vodafone Group is one of the world's leading telecoms and
technology service providers. We have extensive experience in
connectivity, convergence and the Internet of Things, as well as
championing mobile financial services and digital transformation in
emerging markets.
Vodafone Group has mobile operations in 25 countries, partners
with mobile networks in 41 more, and fixed broadband operations in
19 markets. As of 31 March 2019, Vodafone Group had approximately
650 million mobile customers, 19 million fixed broadband customers
and 14 million TV customers, including all of the customers in
Vodafone's joint ventures and associates. For more information,
please visit: www.vodafone.com.
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