BRUSSELS--The European Union's antitrust chief signaled Thursday
that his institution will review Liberty Global's planned EUR6.9
billion ($9.5 billion) acquisition of Dutch cable operator Ziggo,
and criticized a plea by Dutch authorities to take over the
case.
The deal, if approved, would give John Malone's international
cable company access to 90% of Dutch households due to its
ownership of the second largest cable operator, UPC.
Investors are watching closely to see which antitrust authority
will review the merger because the decision is likely to affect the
timing and conditions of any judgment, and yield clues as to how
regulators will treat future mergers in Europe's rapidly
consolidating telecoms sector.
"In the case of Ziggo in the Netherlands...it is obvious that
this is an EU case, and they have notified and we are working on
this," Joaquín Almunia, European commissioner for competition, he
said.
While the Ziggo deal exceeds the sales thresholds that require
it to be notified to the European Commission, the EU's central
antitrust authority, the commission can choose to refer it back to
the Dutch national regulator if it considers the merger affects
mainly national interests.
Mr. Almunia pointed to "the other part of Liberty Global" as a
reason for the merger's EU dimension. Liberty is active in 14
countries and has major units in the U.K., Belgium and other EU
countries.
"When the commission is competent, the normal rule is that the
commission deals with this merger," Mr. Almunia said. "And this is
what is going on both in the German case or in the Dutch case," he
said, referring to both the Ziggo merger and to Telefónica
Deutschland's proposed takeover of E-Plus, the German unit of KPN
Mobile NV--a deal that the commission decided to handle itself.
Mr. Almunia also criticized an unusually impassioned plea last
week by the Dutch regulator that it should be the one to assess the
merger.
In a statement, Chris Fonteijn, chairman of the Dutch regulator,
known as the Authority for Consumers and Markets, argued that his
authority knows "best what is happening in the Netherlands."
"What I don't understand is what the Dutch competition authority
did the other day," Mr. Almunia said.
"Say "Hey, hey! I am much more clever than you! Give me this
case!" No. I was surprised by this," the commissioner said.
Liberty and Ziggo are keen that the merger be reviewed in
Brussels, which would lead to fewer political sensitivities and a
shorter, defined timeline, according to people familiar with the
matter.
The commission will make its decision on which authority will
review the Ziggo merger by May 8.
Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@wsj.com
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