Unitymedia settles KabelBW antitrust case
February 13, 2015
European cable operator Liberty Global’s German unit has reached an agreement with two companies who objected to its €3 billion purchase of cable provider KabelBW.
A regional court in Duesseldorf ruled in 2013 that the cartel office must re-examine the case to either block it or force the firms to offer more concessions to protect competition in the cable television market. The ruling ultimately could have led to the unwinding of a merger that bolstered Germany’s second-largest cable operator Unitymedia, owned by Liberty Global, Europe’s largest cable operator, in 2012.
Germany’s biggest telecoms group Deutsche Telekom and local cable operator NetCologne had challenged the approval. Unitymedia comfirmed on February 13th that the two companies had withdrawn their objections against the deal. The German competition regulator confirmed it had approved the settlement.