Liberty Global to Acquire 100% of Sunrise Communications Group by Tender Offer
- Strategic Combination of UPC Switzerland and Sunrise to Create the Leading Fixed-Mobile Challenger in Switzerland
- Tender Offer is Unanimously Recommended by Sunrise Board of Directors; Freenet, its 24% Shareholder, has Agreed to Tender its Shares
Liberty Global announced today that, pursuant to the terms of a transaction agreement between Liberty Global and Sunrise Communications Group AG, Liberty Global has agreed to make an all cash public tender offer for all publicly held shares of Sunrise at a price of CHF110 per share.
The offer represents a 32% premium to the 60-day volume weighted average price (“VWAP”) per share of CHF83.17 during the period up to (and including) August 11, 2020 and values 100% of Sunrise’s equity at CHF5.0 billion1, representing a total enterprise value of CHF6.8 billion2.
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, added “The industrial logic of this merger is undeniable, but the real winners are Swiss consumers and businesses. This powerful combination of 5G wireless and gigabit broadband will accelerate digital investment at a time when connectivity has never been more essential. Fixed-mobile convergence is the future of the telecom sector in Europe, and now Switzerland will have a true national challenger to drive competition and innovation for years to come. We look forward to welcoming Sunrise employees to the Liberty and UPC family and congratulate them and the board on their success.”
He continued, “This transaction is another significant step on our path to create fixed-mobile champions in all of our core markets, crystallizing the value of our superior broadband networks and driving long-term, sustainable free cash flow growth. Even after this deal, and assuming completion of our recently announced UK transaction, we will continue to have approximately $7 billion of liquidity to drive value-creation for shareholders.”
Read the full release here.
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