Liberty Global's Telenet to acquire BASE from KPN for €1.33bn

Liberty Global's Belgian arm Telenet announced on Monday it will acquire Royal KPN's Belgian subsidiary BASE in a transaction valued at €1.33bn (£938.5m).

The acquisition will provide Telenet with 3.3m mobile users, allowing the company to compete with its main competitors in Belgium, Belgacom and Mobistar.

London-based Liberty expects to spend €240m (£173.4m) on integrating the two businesses.Telenet intends to finance the purchase through a combination of €1.0bn in new debt facilities and from existing liquidity.

The company pointed out that the main aim of this operation is to secure its future as a leading integrated communications provider.

"This acquisition will enable Telenet to compete more effectively in a mobile market with significant growth opportunities, while offering a full range of fixed and mobile services to the benefit of consumers and businesses in Belgium," Liberty Global said.

The deal is highly accretive to shareholders

Mike Fries, the company's CEO, added that the deal represented "a cost-effective and unique opportunity to expand Telenet’s mobile and fixed business in Belgium" and that it would be "highly accretive to shareholders."

Nevertheless, Liberty Global stressed the deal was subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of the merger from the relevant competition authorities.

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