In a further consolidation of the broadband and pay-TV technology sector, ARRIS is buying Pace for $2.1 billion (€1.96 billion) in cash and stock. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to ARRIS Non-GAAP earnings per share in the first 12 months following the acquisition. Arris acquired the Motorola Home business from Motorola Mobility in […]
Cable telecoms company Liberty Global’s Belgian subsidiary Telenet has agreed to buy local mobile network operator Base from Dutch group KPN for €1.325 billion. For Liberty Global, Europe’s biggest cable operator, the acquisition marks a departure in strategy, having said in the past that it is not interested in buying or building its own mobile […]
Comcast and Time Warner Cable meet with the US Justice Department this week to try allay antitrust concerns of officials about their merger. The $45 billion deal would give Comcast-TWC control of about a third of US pay-TV and broadband markets. Some consumer groups and content providers have come out strongly against the deal, arguing […]
Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent have announced their intention to combine to create an innovation leader in next generation technology and services for an IP connected world. The two companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding under which Nokia will make an offer for all of the equity securities issued by Alcatel-Lucent, through a public exchange […]
ARRIS Group and Charter Communications have established a joint venture that has agreed to acquire ActiveVideo for approximately $135 million. ARRIS will own 65 per cent of the joint venture company and will be the sales channel for ActiveVideo’s CloudTV platform. Closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the second quarter, subject to […]
Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent confirmed they are in talks for a potential merger. The merger would take the form of a public bid by Nokia for Alcatel-Lucent. Further details of the negotiations were not disclosed. While Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent are similar in size in terms of annual sales, Nokia has a market capitalisation of nearly three […]
French media has never been faster moving, or more interesting, since the heady days of Jean-Marie Messier and his attempt to be ‘master of the world’. April 10th evening saw news break that French investment and industrial group Bollore had picked up another 2.51 per cent of media giant Vivendi, and paying over €800 million […]
Following on the press and financial speculation French media giant Vivendi attempted to cool the rumour-mill surrounding its potential acquisition of Sky’s three European pay-TV operations. A Vivendi senior spokesman “vehemently” denied that they had any plan to acquire Sky and Arnaud de Puyfontaine, chairman of Vivendi’s management board, stressed there was no bid. Sky […]
Abertis is to sell the recently-rebranded Cellnex (the former Abertis Telecom) with the forthcoming IPO with 55 per cent of the company on offer. The value of the company is estimated to be between €2.3 billion and €2.8 billion, with Abertis hoping to raise up to €1.7 billion for the sale to institutional investors only. […]
French media giant Vivendi is said to be considering a bid to acquire all of the Sky-branded European pay-TV broadcasters. Reuters have reported ‘early stage discussions’ and analysts at investment bank Exane BNPO-Paribas state that the rumour has been bouncing around for a few weeks. Exane has run some numbers and – assuming a 25 […]