Liberty Global, the leading international cable company with operations in 14 countries, today announced that its subsidiary Telenet has entered into an agreement to acquire BASE Company, the third-largest mobile network operator in Belgium for €1.325 billion. The acquisition is expected to enable Telenet, which has been an active player in Belgium's mobile market as an MVNO since 2006 to compete more effectively in a mobile market with significant growth opportunities.The deal will create a much stronger operator in Belgium's mobile market as fixed and mobile telecom services converge, with estimated sales of 2.4 billion euros and adjusted operating earnings of 1.1 billion euros, according to Telenet.
According to Liberty Global, the acquisition of BASE Company, with nearly 3.3 million mobile subscribers, fits very well in its mobile strategy in Belgium, as it will allow Telenet to continue to provide ubiquitous connectivity for its and BASE Company’s customers. Telenet expects to make expenditures totaling approximately €240 million to upgrade the capacity and quality of BASE Company’s mobile network and support systems and to integrate BASE Company with Telenet’s operations, most of which will occur over the next few years.
Mike Fries, CEO, Liberty Global
We fully support Telenet’s acquisition of Base, which represents a cost-effective and unique opportunity to expand Telenet’s mobile and fixed business in Belgium. Not surprisingly, the synergies are substantial and the price at 4.2x OCF is highly accretive to shareholders. Given Telenet’s scale in Belgium it can absorb the smaller Base business quickly and efficiently. Elsewhere in Europe we will continue to focus primarily on our existing MVNO arrangements and rapidly developing WiFi networks to provide seamless mobile voice and data services to our customers.
