Sunrise takeover by UPC is well on track
The takeover of telecoms company Sunrise by UPC parent Liberty Global is well on track. After the offer period expired on October 8, Liberty owns 81.98 percent of all Sunrise shares.
According to the provisional evaluation, a total of 37.1 million Sunrise shares have been tendered so far, according to a media release on Friday. This means that the minimum tender quota has been met, subject to confirmation of the provisional figures in the definitive announcement of the interim results. As a threshold, UPC had set a participation of at least two-thirds. The definitive interim result is expected on October 14, with the grace period then running from October 15 to 28.
Valuation of 6.8 billion
UPC owner Liberty Global had submitted the purchase offer for Sunrise in August (Werbewoche.ch reported). The American-British cable network giant is digging deep into its pockets: Sunrise shareholders are to receive 5 billion francs in cash. This values Switzerland's second-largest telecommunications group at 6.8 billion francs, including debt.
In the previous year, the liaison had played out the other way around: At that time, Sunrise wanted to walk UPC down the aisle for CHF 6.3 billion. However, the deal failed due to opposition from shareholders led by Germany's Freenet, which criticized the purchase price and the necessary capital increase as being too high. (Werbewoche.ch reported). Freenet is known to support the current deal.
Challenger for Swisscom
Together, UPC and Sunrise want to become a potent challenger to top dog Swisscom. Together, they will achieve sales of CHF 3.1 billion and have 2.1 million mobile subscribers. With 1.2 million broadband customers and 1.3 million TV subscribers, they will achieve a market share of around 30 percent in each area.
One goal of the merger is also to eliminate the respective weak points. Sunrise, for example, is getting its own fixed network, while UPC is now getting a mobile network. (SDA)
