Liberty Global will look at ‘all options’ for Benelux market

Liberty Global will “look at all options” for its operating companies in the Benelux region, as part of a wider approach where “nothing is off the table” to realise the true value of the parent company.

Asked on an analyst call after the company posted its Q2 financials whether soon-to-be-consolidated Belgian operator Telenet could be relisted at some point in the future, possibly as part of a VodafoneZiggo-Telenet merger, CEO Mike Fries declined to rule anything out.

He noted that Liberty expects to take complete control of Telenet soon, with a planned delisting in September – part of a wider strategy to remove complexity that Liberty Global sees as detrimental to the value placed by the market on its stock.

“We are going to look at every opportunity to maximise the value of our opcos and that could include pretty much anything. You could contemplate several opportunities in the Benelux region for us to look at – combinations or relistings. I can’t give you visibility as we sit here today. We are going to look at all options to ensure that we can drive value to our shareholders,” he said. “We will certainly be focused on things like that, but we will keep our options open.”

Answering a separate question, Fries said that Liberty and Vodafone, its JV partner in the Netherlands, were “intensifying” the attention they give to the future options for VodafoneZiggo. “I’m not going to be specific about what that might look like, because there are lots of options,” he said.

He said he believed VodafoneZiggo to be “a unique business” and a “very valuable and profitable asset”. He said the company would reach decisions that would maximise the value for the partners.

Move to Bermuda

Fries separately said that Liberty Global’s decision to move its base for legal purposes to Bermuda was “not tax-driven” but would give the company greater flexibility to implement exactly the kind of transactions that would help it realise its true value.

Liberty has separately set a fresh target of buying back a minimum of 15% of its shares, having passed the threshold of 8% in its buyback programme – another tool in its drive to increase value.

On Liberty-backed operating companies’ investment in fibre, Fries said that he expected capital intensity to decline over time, with much fibre investment, as in the UK, being off balance sheet. While the companies will continue to invest in 5G and mobile, he said that over time the capital intensity would improve.

Fries reiterated a point made on a previous call that alternative fibre builders would be evaluated “carefully” if they were for sale.