Liberty Global and Vodafone Complete Dutch Joint Venture, Creating A Fully-Converged National Communications Operator

• 50:50 joint venture called VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V. (“VodafoneZiggo” or the "JV").
• Combining Ziggo’s fibre-rich broadband network with Vodafone’s market-leading mobile operation creates a stronger converged competitor in the Dutch market, delivering significant benefits for consumers, businesses and the public sector through investment in digital infrastructure and customer experience.
• VodafoneZiggo has combined revenue of over €4 billion with ten million fixed and five million mobile Revenue Generating Units (RGUs) and the fastest-growing B2B business in the market.
• Following the divestment of Vodafone’s consumer fixed business “Vodafone Thuis”, the estimated net present value of total synergies for the transaction remains around €3.5 billion.
• Following the recapitalisation of VodafoneZiggo and after taking into account the €0.8 billion equalisation payment by Vodafone, Liberty Global will receive €2.2 billion and Vodafone will receive €0.6 billion in cash payments post-closing.

Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, comments, “This joint venture is great news for Dutch consumers and businesses. VodafoneZiggo will be the most innovative provider of converged communications services in the Netherlands with a full suite of market-leading TV, broadband, fixed-line and mobile products on day one of the JV. We are also excited for our shareholders. This is a highly accretive transaction with significant synergies and a predictable dividend stream. When including over €500 million of cash generated and up-streamed since the announcement of the deal back in February, total proceeds to Liberty will exceed €2.7 billion. We look forward to deploying that capital to drive long-term growth and investor returns.”

Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group Chief Executive, said, “Today marks the creation of a strong integrated communications provider in the Netherlands, combining the complementary skills and experience of Vodafone and Liberty to bring a range of benefits to consumers, enterprises and the public sector. The merged operation will be a stronger competitor in the Netherlands - one of our core European markets - and is a further example of Vodafone’s ability to create value for its customers and shareholders through an effective market-by-market convergence strategy.”

New Dutch company to deliver converged consumer services and create a leading B2B challenger

Liberty Global plc (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) and Vodafone Group Plc (LSE: VOD) today announced that Liberty Global Europe Holding B.V. and Vodafone International Holdings B.V. have completed the transaction to combine their Dutch operations to form a 50:50 joint venture.

The JV will operate under both the Vodafone and Ziggo brands and will create a nationwide integrated communications provider with 7.1 million homes passed by the fibre-rich broadband network of Ziggo Group Holding B.V. (“Ziggo”) and the nationwide 4G mobile coverage of Vodafone’s Dutch operation (“Vodafone Netherlands”). VodafoneZiggo has nearly 15 million RGUs, of which 4.0 million are video, 3.1 million are high-speed broadband, 2.5 million are fixed-line telephony and 5.2 million are mobile. For the twelve months ended September 30, 2016, the JV would have generated over €4 billion of revenue.

By combining Ziggo’s market‐leading Horizon TV product suite, including Replay TV, Ziggo Sport, 300 Mbps nationwide broadband internet and an extensive Wi‐Fi network, together with Vodafone Netherlands’ data‐rich 4G mobile propositions, Dutch consumers will enjoy the highest quality customer experience both within and outside the home. In addition, the JV creates a leading national enterprise business through the combination of Vodafone Netherlands’ extensive B2B expertise, product portfolio and distribution footprint with Ziggo’s fast-growing B2B operation and its high‐capacity nationwide cable network.

The new combined management team will rapidly bring to market converged propositions for Dutch consumers, enterprises and the public sector.

Source: Liberty Global, Vodafone release