Liberty Global’s Telenet to Acquire KPN’s Belgian Unit for $1.43 billion

DENVER: Liberty Global's Belgian subsidiary Telenet has agreed to acquire Base, which is the third largest mobile network operator in Belgium, from the Dutch group KPN for 1.325 billion euros ($1.43 billion).

Base has 3.3 million mobile subscribers and brought in adjusted revenue of 690 million euros ($741 million) last year. Telenet expects to spend about 240 million euros ($258 million) on integrating the business and to upgrade Base's capacity and network.

Mike Fries, the CEO of Liberty Global, stated, “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.”