Liberty Global sees its Dutch venture Vodafone Ziggo as a potential IPO candidate, according to the company’s CEO Mike Fries.
Speaking in a conference call following the release of Liberty’s latest results, he added “we could look at that depending on how the market evolves”. Fries said that despite rotation occurring in Europe due to many tailwinds, “the sector in general is possibly due for a pretty good year here, and would it be an opportunity to look at listing? I would say possibly. It’s not up to use, we have to kind of–you know, we wouldn’t want to do that with a partner who was resistant to it”.
Fries continued by saying that “each party can force an IPO, one party can force a sale of the company, and they’re in there for a reason because nobody knows what five years, six years will look like. We’re getting to those points, and so it’s going to be an interesting 24 months. We’re a very solid partnership, we’ll have to come together and decide what’s the right outcome for each of us in these particular assets and markets, and I’m thrilled to be in that position with a business that’s actually hit the ball out of the park and achieved everything we thought it was going to achieve, so it’s all good news”.
Although Fries conceded Vodafone Ziggo is delivering “really meaningful cash”, it was advisable to “keep your eyes on it, stay tuned. The next 24 months, I think you’ll see activity on that front and we’ll certainly let you know when it happens”.
