Liberty To Sell Germany, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic Operations To Vodafone

(RTTNews) - Liberty Global plc (LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK) announced Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic to Vodafone Group plc (VOD, VOD.L) for a total enterprise value of approximately 19.0 billion euros or $22.7 billion on U.S. GAAP basis.

The value would be 18.4 billion euros or $22 billion on an EU-IFRS basis.

Cash proceeds from the sale is expected to be 10.6 billion euros or $12.7 billion, plus Liberty to retain all cash generated from the four businesses through closing.

These four businesses represented approximately 28% of Liberty Global's consolidated 2017 operating cash flow, which does not include its 50% share of OCF from the VodafoneZiggo joint venture in the Netherlands.

The transaction will be notifiable to the European Commission for regulatory approval, which is expected to occur mid-2019.

After completion of the transaction, Liberty Global will continue to be Europe's leading cable television and broadband provider, with consolidated operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Slovakia.

Liberty Global has agreed to provide certain transitional services for a period of up to four years.

LionTree and Goldman Sachs are acting as financial advisers to Liberty Global on the transaction.