Liberty Global, Inc. (LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK) said it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Unity Media S.C.A. to acquire all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Unitymedia GmbH. Completion of the transaction is expected to occur in the first half of 2010.
Liberty Global said it will acquire 100% of the shares of Unitymedia for an equity purchase price of EUR 2.0 billion, or $3.0 billion, from its parent, which is owned by a group of shareholders led by BC Partners and Apollo.
Liberty Global expects that Unitymedia's growth will be meaningfully accretive to the overall profile of its European business and will benefit from substantial synergies in such areas as network operations and procurement. Adjusting for the transaction, Liberty Global expects that its consolidated gross leverage would remain within its 4-5 times target range.
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