Liberty Global agreed to acquire the cable business of Multimedia Polska, the third-largest cable operator in Poland, in an all cash transaction valued at PLN 3.0 billion (approximately $760 million).
The PLN 3.0 billion purchase price equates to a multiple of 6.2x Multimedia’s 2015 full-year Adjusted EBITDA2 when adjusted for PLN 124 million (approximately $30 million1) of projected annual run-rate synergies3 derived from revenue and cost-related items.
Liberty Global already operates in Poland under its subsidiary UPC Poland. As of June 30, 2016, UPC Poland passed 3.1 million homes, or around 20% of total households in Poland, serving 1.4 million unique customers who subscribed to 2.9 million cable subscription services.
At the end of the second quarter of 2016, Multimedia passed 1.6 million homes mainly through its hybrid fiber-coaxial cable network, serving 832,000 unique customers who subscribed to 1.4 million subscription services consisting of 643,000 video, 491,000 broadband and 241,000 telephony RGUs. In addition, Multimedia had 54,000 mobile subscribers at June 30, 2016.
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, commented, “This acquisition will significantly increase our scale in Poland, where we are already the largest cable operator. It will also enhance our ability to invest in cutting-edge products and services for Polish consumers and businesses that will help drive organic growth across our enlarged footprint of over four million premises. Upon closing of the transaction, we will begin upgrading the Multimedia network, after which Multimedia’s customers will be able to enjoy superfast broadband speeds and our next-generation video service Horizon TV.”
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