Liberty Global Agrees To Sell Dutch Towers For €669 Million And Eyes December Filings For Ziggo Spin-Off
Liberty Global also closed its Vodafone stake purchase and expects Ziggo Group synergies above €1 billion, with a spin-off planned for the second quarter of 2027.
Liberty Global agreed to sell VodafoneZiggo's mobile towers for €669 million, a price of 16.2 times 2025 EBITDA, the company said Tuesday in its third-quarter results release. The company, which runs broadband and communications businesses including joint ventures in the U.K. and the Netherlands, also set December as the month it intends to start confidential filings for its planned Ziggo Group spin-off.
Tower proceeds go to debt
The tower proceeds will pay down debt at VodafoneZiggo. They sit inside a wider target of €1.2 billion to €1.4 billion in non-core asset disposals at Ziggo Group, aimed at further cutting leverage.
CEO Mike Fries said Liberty Global closed its purchase of Vodafone's 50% stake in VodafoneZiggo during the quarter. Synergies from the combination are being finalized and are currently expected to exceed the company's earlier estimate of €1 billion in net present value.
Road to a Q2 2027 spin-off
Liberty Global plans to combine its VodafoneZiggo and Telenet interests into a new holding company, Ziggo Group, list it on Euronext Amsterdam and spin its equity interest off to Liberty Global shareholders. Fries said the company currently intends to make initial confidential submissions to the SEC and the Dutch markets regulator AFM in December. The spin-off is planned for the second quarter of 2027.
A Form F-4 registration statement with a preliminary proxy statement is to be filed and mailed to shareholders. Stephen van Rooyen will be CEO of Ziggo Group and Jany Fruytier CFO, with Rocío Lorenzo named Telenet's new CEO. External advisors have been engaged.
VodafoneZiggo posted a second straight quarter of positive broadband additions, its best since the second quarter of 2019, and revenue returned to growth for the first time since the second quarter of 2024. At Telenet in Belgium, the broadband base grew for a sixth consecutive quarter. Both say they are on track for full-year guidance.
Revenue edges down, EBITDA slips
Third-quarter revenue was $1,906.5 million, down 1.9% as reported but up 1.4% on a rebased basis. Adjusted EBITDA was $674.8 million, down 6.3% as reported and 6.8% on a rebased basis.
In local currency, revenue was €1,656.6 million, down 0.3% as reported and up 1.4% rebased. Adjusted EBITDA was €586.3 million, down 4.9% as reported and 6.8% rebased.
The company blamed the EBITDA decline on higher costs at VodafoneZiggo for marketing and sales, handsets, programming and network resilience, plus lower subscription revenue and programming costs tied to the new DAZN deal at Telenet. Liberty Global shares rose 4.93% in Tuesday trading, as of 4:37 p.m. ET, giving the company a market value of $2.8 billion.
The next marker is December, when Liberty Global intends to make its first confidential submissions to the SEC and the AFM.
