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(continued)
important policy questions about
how Americans accessed the programmes they loved as well as
high-speed Internet.
Liberty Global's move followed
a drawn-out pursuit of Ziggo by
LGI which saw it gradually
increase its shareholding. The
transaction is expected to close in
the second half of 2014.
The pair said the deal has
strong industrial logic with significant benefits for all stakeholders,
with the combined business providing approximately 10m video,
broadband Internet and telephony services to over four million
unique customers through a fibrerich cable network. The pair also
saw significant synergy opportunities as a result of scale advan-
tages across core functional areas
and leveraging Liberty Global’s
pan-European platform, procurement and integration expertise.
A Board meeting of ONO in
mid-February decided to go
ahead with an IPO, seemingly
dashing the hopes of Vodafone,
which was reported to have made
a €7 billion offer for the company.
In a statement, ONO said the
Board reiterated its support for
the management’s current strategic focus. “The Board welcomed
the significant improvement in
the Group’s operational performance in 2013, which was supported by stronger penetration in
mobile services, as well as
increased demand for triple-play
offers – of Internet, TV and fixed
telephony,” it said.
“In addition, the Board
endorsed the pursuit by management of the steps required for a
possible stock market listing of
the company. No proposal to
acquire Ono, or any related matter, was presented to or discussed
by the Board of Directors.” March
13th was agreed as the date for
the Annual General Shar