Telenet has been given the green light from the European Commission for the acquisition of BASE Company NV
Thursday, February 4, 2016 — Today, the European Commission announced that it approves the proposed acquisition of BASE Company by Telenet. In April 2015, Telenet announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BASE Company from Koninklijke KPN N.V., in order to secure its future as a leading provider of integrated telecommunications services. Now that the European Commission has given the green light, the acquisition of BASE Company is scheduled to be legally closed in the coming days.
In April 2015, Telenet announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BASE Company from Koninklijke KPN N.V. for an amount of € 1.325 billion. The European Commission was notified of the transaction by Liberty Global (the majority shareholder of Telenet) on 17 August 2015. Today, the European Commission announced that, after thorough examination, they approve the proposed acquisition of BASE Company by Telenet. Telenet aims to legally close the acquisition in the coming days.
Through this acquisition, Telenet will become the owner of a mobile network. This will enable Telenet to effectively compete for the growth opportunities in the mobile telecommunications market. In this way, Telenet hopes to meet the growing demand from both private and business customers for the full range of fixed and mobile telecom services.
On 19 November 2015, Telenet confirmed that they had entered into conditional agreements with MEDIALAAN for, among other things, the sale by BASE Company to MEDIALAAN of all JIM Mobile customers and of its 50% stake in VikingCo NV, the entity that operates the Mobile Vikings brand in Belgium. These agreements were concluded in the context of the investigation by the European Commission into the proposed acquisition of BASE Company.
As a result of the green light from the European Commission, and the Belgian Competition Authority's recent approval of the transaction with MEDIALAAN, BASE Company's sale of its 50% stake in VikingCo NV to MEDIALAAN can be completed after Telenet's acquisition of BASE Company is finalized.
In time, BASE will also transfer the JIM Mobile clients to MEDIALAAN, and MEDIALAAN will become a ‘full MVNO player’ on the BASE network, for both the JIM Mobile and the Mobile Vikings customers. The transaction creates a platform for MEDIALAAN to become a new, high-performing MVNO player.
John Porter, CEO Telenet: “We have constructively cooperated with the European Commission during the investigation, and were confident that the transaction would be approved. We are very pleased with this major strategic and complementary acquisition. This is a historic step in the history of both Telenet and BASE Company. Now that we are assured of long-term mobile access, we will be able to provide an improved experience for both our customers and those of BASE Company. We look forward to working on this together with our colleagues from BASE Company.”
There are no changes for the customers of Telenet and BASE Company for the time being.