Liberty Global continues to increase its stake in Holland’s largest cable operator Ziggo.
In a statement, Ziggo has said that according to an 8k SEC filing made by Liberty Global, the stake of Liberty Global in Ziggo has been raised to 28.5%.
LGI had already built a 18.2% holding in the Dutch operator. The new stake increase consists of 17.5 million Ziggo shares, financed entirely through a loan linked to the hedging transaction that is secured by Ziggo shares.
Liberty Global acquired its first Ziggo shares, 12.65% in March of this year “as strategic and opportunistic investment” when Barclays as underwriter of the sale by Ziggo’s original investors Cinven and Warburg Pincus was left with Ziggo shares. After that, the stake was increased in two steps via 15% to 18.2%.
“The Supervisory Board and the Board of Management will continue to act in the best interests of its stakeholders in assessing steps made by Liberty Global while continuing to focus on executing Ziggo N.V.’s strategy,” the statement said.
The increase in Ziggo shares comes after LGI withdrew from the takeover battle over Germany’s largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland.
Liberty Global is also in the process of offloading its content division Chellomedia. According to the Financial Times, prospective buyers include Scripps Networks Interactive, Time Warner Inc.’s Turner Broadcasting System and Discovery Communications.
