Liberty Global in talks to buy Spanish TV and telecoms group Ono
Liberty Global, the company owned by US cable entrepreneur John Malone, is considering a €7bn bid for Spanish TV, broadband and telecoms provider Ono, as it seeks to trump Vodafone in the race for cable acquisitions across Europe.
Both Liberty and Vodafone are holding talks with the private equity owners of Ono, which is separately working on a flotation in Madrid this year, people with knowledge of the matter said. Ono’s shareholders, which include buyout groups Providence Equity Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and CCMP, would likely sell their stakes in one go if bids for the whole company were attractive enough compared with the valuation they could get in a listing, one of the people said.
Liberty’s attempt comes just as the cable company owned by the US billionaire clinched a €10bn deal to buy the Dutch cable operator Ziggo on Monday.
Liberty and Vodafone’s approach to Ono shareholders highlight how some of the many European companies that are being prepared for an initial public offering this year could be snapped up by buyers before being listed. Buyout fund managers have been accelerating their plans to float their portfolio companies in Europe to take advantage of welcoming stock markets and return cash to their investors. They are looking to float more than 40 companies this year and next, in what would be the biggest surge of initial public offerings since the financial crisis.
Talks have not reached a point where offers were presented to, or discussed by, Ono’s board of directors, and the company is still pursuing an IPO, two of the people cautioned.
Another person said that the most likely outcome for Ono is a flotation, given its size. Orange, which also operates in Spain, was seen as another potential contender but the French telecoms group has not shown an interest in buying the Spanish company so far, one of the people said.
Vodafone, Liberty, Ono, Providence and Thomas H. Lee Partners declined to comment.
Vodafone and Liberty have been in competition for European cable businesses in the past. The US group sought to derail an approach by Vodafone for Germany’s Kabel Deutschland with a bid of its own, which eventually forced the British telecoms group to raise its offer. Vodafone was also linked with interest in Ziggo.
Both Vodafone and Liberty are trying to create a pan-European cable and telecoms group. Analysts suggest that ultimately it could make sense for the two companies to merge, although they would now have overlapping businesses in countries such as Germany that would raise opposition from the Brussels competition watchdog