Liberty Global (Nasdaq: LBTYA) will be a different-looking company after it completes its $23.3 billion acquisition of Virgin Media (Nasdaq: VMED).
Among other things, the media giant will create a new U.K. plc and will "redomicile from Delaware to the U.K. by becoming a subsidiary of a new holding company," a story in Broadband TV News said. Liberty Global's current headquarters and other principal offices--including content arm Chellomedia, already based in southwest London--will remain in place.
Basically, Virgin Media just makes Liberty Global bigger and a better value, said Mike Fries, Liberty Global's president-CEO.
"Adding Virgin Media to our large and growing European operations is a natural extension of the value creation strategy we've been successfully using for over seven years," Fries said. "Virgin Media will add significant scale and a first class management team in Europe's largest and most dynamic media and communications market."
It's a point toward which Virgin Media has been driving for more than a half-decade, the company's CEO, Neil Berkett, said.
"Over the past six years, Virgin Media has transformed the digital experience of millions of customers, catalyzed a deep-rooted change in the U.K.'s digital landscape and delivered impressive growth and returns for our shareholders," he said. "I'm confident that this deal will help us to build on this legacy."
The two companies, after all, "have a shared ambition, focus on operational excellence and commitment to driving shareholder value."
For more:
- Broadband TV News had this story
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