SUNRISE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP AG Press Release
Opfikon, August 27, 2020; 06:55 CET
Publication of prospectus for Liberty Global cash offer
On 12 August 2020, Sunrise Communications Group AG ("Sunrise") announced that Liberty Global plc ("Liberty Global") had published the pre-announcement for its public tender offer to acquire 100% of Sunrise's shares at an offer price of CHF110 per share in cash. The acquisition is subject to customary conditions, including tender of at least 66 2/3% of the Sunrise shares into the offer and receipt of regulatory approvals.
Today UPC Schweiz GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Global, has published the prospectus for the public tender offer. The offer prospectus is available on https://www.nationalconnectivitychallenger.ch/#for-investors. The report of Sunrise's Board of Directors and the independent fairness opinion issued by Value Trust regarding the public tender offer are also available on https://www.nationalconnectivitychallenger.ch/#for-investors.
The main offer period is expected to commence on 11 September 2020 and is scheduled to expire at 4 p.m. Swiss time on October 8, 2020. UPC Schweiz GmbH may extend the main offer period once or several times. After the expiration of the offer period and if the minimum acceptance threshold is reached or waived by UPC Schweiz GmbH, there will be an additional acceptance period of ten trading days for the subsequent acceptance of the offer. Subject to an extension of the main offer period, the additional acceptance period is scheduled to run from October 15, 2020 and to expire on 4 p.m. Swiss time on October 28, 2020. Settlement of the offer is expected for year-end, subject to regulatory approvals.
The Board of Directors of Sunrise considers in its report that the offer is in the best interests of Sunrise and its shareholders and that the offer price is fair and adequate. In its report, the Board of Directors therefore unanimously recommends the shareholders of Sunrise to accept the offer.
Advisors
Deutsche Bank and UBS are acting as financial advisors and Lenz & Staehelin as legal advisor to Sunrise
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.
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