Liberty Global acquires Dutch largest cable operator Ziggo

[C0re]

Liberty Global to Acquire Ziggo
Strategic combination creates national Dutch cable operator
• Combined footprint will reach 7 million or over 90% of Dutch homes
• Creates leading challenger in the mobile & enterprise businesses
• Continued investment & innovation to benefit Dutch consumers
• Planning to leverage Ziggo’s strong brand nationwide
• Centralizing Dutch operations at Ziggo’s Utrecht headquarters
• Significant synergy opportunities
• Unanimously recommended by Ziggo’s Supervisory & Management Boards
• Intended stock and cash offer implies a price of €34.53 per ordinary Ziggo share based on January 24, 2014 close (and a price of €35.74 per ordinary Ziggo share based on 10-day VWAP1)


http://www.libertyglobal.com/pdf/press-release/Joint-announcement-press-release-Ziggo-Final.pdf

 

[C0re]

I am living in an area served by UPC Netherlands. There are quiet a few differences between both cable operators. Different encryptions (Nagravision vs. Irdeto), UPC has a standard FTC package, Ziggo doesn't. UPC has its own set top box that can only be rented, not bought. Ziggo on the other hand works with set top boxes that can be bought by the consumers. Both operators do support CI+ modules but UPC on a rental base.

 

[Topper]

This seems to be a trend in all businesses these days, rather than try and compete with each other they prefer to allow takeovers or merges to be the norm. My own take on this is that it is just the people at the top wanting to cash in and retire early with their golden handshake + nestegg + bonus + pension + shares not really caring about the disruption caused by the merger/takeover to the staff in the form of uncertainty about inevitable redundancies and their prime services to customers. Remove the competition and you can charge what you want