SUNRISE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP AG Press Release
Opfikon, October 30, 2020; 07:15 a.m. CET
COMCO/WEKO approves takeover by Liberty Global
After a one month phase I examination, the Swiss Competition Commission ("COMCO/WEKO") has approved the planned takeover of Sunrise Communications Group AG ("Sunrise"; SWX: SRCG) by UPC Schweiz GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of Liberty Global plc ("Liberty Global"; NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK).
The approval was granted without any conditions or stipulations being imposed. With today's approval by COMCO/WEKO, the parties have overcome another important hurdle towards the settlement of the public tender offer.
Sunrise welcomes the decision of the Competition Commission on the transaction, which will create the leading national fixed-mobile challenger in Switzerland with direct benefits for the Swiss economy and consumers. Regulatory approval follows the announcement this week that more than 96% of Sunrise shareholders have already tendered their shares. As announced previously, the public tender offer is still subject to certain conditions as further outlined in the offer prospectus published by UPC Schweiz GmbH on August 27, 2020. The transaction is expected to close in mid-November.
For more information, please visit https://www.nationalconnectivitychallenger.ch/#for-investors.
About Sunrise
The Sunrise Communications Group AG (Sunrise; SWX: SRCG) is the leading challenger on the Swiss telecommunications market. Sunrise is the largest non-state-controlled telecommunications company in Switzerland, offering mobile, Internet, TV, and landline services to private and business customers. Sunrise offers the biggest and fastest 5G mobile network in Switzerland (connect magazine 1/2020). Sunrise is the 5G pioneer and was the first provider to introduce 5G in the beginning of April 2019. In July 2020, Sunrise covered already more than 554 cities/towns, offering the largest 5G network (3.5 GHz) in Switzerland and Europe. In addition to this, Sunrise offers the best geographic 4G/LTE coverage across more than 96% of Switzerland to 99.98% of the population. 4G+ coverage is approximately 84.5% of the Swiss population, with speeds of up to 900 Mbit/s. On the fixed side, Sunrise reaches approximately 85% of households in Switzerland with its fully invested network. The company offers the most advanced fiber technologies - such as vectoring, FTTS, FTTB, and FTTH - thanks to its long-term agreement with Swisscom, SFN, and local utilities. Sunrise has around 1,739 employees (full-time equivalents) as well as more than 137 apprentices - the highest share of apprentices (8.9%) in a Swiss-wide company ranking (SonntagsZeitung August 25, 2019).
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) is one of the world's leading converged video, broadband and communications companies, with operations in six European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Telenet and UPC. We invest in the infrastructure and digital platforms that empower our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our substantial scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect 11 million customers subscribing to 25 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve 6 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service through millions of access points across our footprint. In addition, Liberty Global owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture in the Netherlands with 4 million customers subscribing to 10 million fixed-line and 5 million mobile services, as well as significant investments in ITV, All3Media, ITI Neovision, Lionsgate, the Formula E racing series and several regional sports networks.
For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com.
| Provider | Channel | Contact | ||
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Tensid EQS Ltd., Switzerland www.tensid.ch |
newsbox.ch www.newsbox.ch |
Provider/Channel related enquiries marco@tensid.ch +41 41 763 00 50 |
