Liberty Global moves to assuage regulator on Kabel BW

Pan European cable operator Liberty Global has attempted to mitigate the concerns of Germany’s competition regulator to allow its purchase of rival cabler Kabel BW to go ahead.

Liberty Global announced its intention to acquire Kabel BW for €3.16 billion in March 2011. It has subsequently proposed concessions to the Federal Cartel Office to make the deal acceptable.

“The German Federal Cartel Office is concerned that a KBW-Unitymedia merger could potentially intensify Germany’s existing regional oligopoly of cable companies for delivering basic cable TV services to apartment blocks, or multi-dwelling units (MDUs), through housing associations,” notes ratings analyst Moody’s.