Liberty Global, controlled by John Malone, would be “opportunistic” about buying cable assets in western Europe as it seeks to bulk up, chief executive Mike Fries said Tuesday.
“We’re looking to get bigger in the markets that we’re in, in our core sector, cable,” he said at the Cable Congress in Lucerne, Switzerland. “That’s the best investment opportunity for us, to have better scale, bigger scale.”
Bids for Germany’s No. 3 cable company, Kabel Baden- Wuerttemberg GmbH & Co KG, are due today, although no bids have been submitted, the executive said, declining to say whether Liberty would be among the contenders. If owners of cable operator Ziggo B.V. in the Netherlands wanted to sell, “we would probably look at that,” he said, adding that “to my knowledge, they are not doing anything.”
Companies such as Liberty — which has $4.1 billion available for acquisitions — want to participate in the consolidation of the European cable industry, seeking to ride the exploding appetite for high-definition content and broadband Internet. Demand for such services allows cable companies with fast triple-play services — television, Internet and phones — to boost growth and profits.
“We’re always opportunistic in terms of creating a bigger, more successful business,” Fries said.
Liberty Global shares have risen 21 percent this year, closing on the Nasdaq Stock Market at $42.88 Tuesday and giving the company a market value of about $10.2 billion.
