EU yellow card for Vodafone’s Liberty deal
March 21, 2019
Vodafone is set to receive a warning from EU regulators on possible anti-competitive effects from its $22 billion (€19.3bn) buy of Liberty Global’s German and eastern European assets.
The warning – a statement of objections setting out the European Commission’s concerns – is expected to be spelled out to the companies shortly, reports Reuters, ahead of a June 3rd deadline for the EU executive’s regulatory approval.
The parties revealed the deal in May last year. The EU competition authorities launched a full-scale investigation in December last year, saying that the deal could hurt competition in Germany and the Czech Republic. Vodafone is expected to offer concessions to address EU concerns about the deal.