Vodafone says it has ended swap talks with Liberty Global

Vodafone announced on Monday it has ended talks with Liberty Global over a possible asset swap. The 700 million euros of German unit Unitymedia GmbH’s January 2027 bonds declined 5.1 cents to a record 84.4 cents. But the United Kingdom is Liberty’s largest market, and Germany is Vodafone’s biggest sales market, and it seemed increasingly unlikely the two would bail out of those markets.

“Vodafone [on Monday] announces that discussions with Liberty Global have terminated”. For reporting purposes, Liberty combines figures for the United Kingdom and Ireland and claims its networks reach 13,512,900 premises across both countries.

Without a deal, Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao may choose to add TV and Internet services to his mobile networks in Europe.

However, Vodafone has just confirmed that talks between it and Virgin Media are off.

There had even been speculation that the two were considering a merger that would have created a £100 billion telecoms giant, but Vodafone dismissed such talk.

Analysts had said a tie-up in Britain, where Liberty owns cable and broadband company Virgin Media, would have made sense. In an interview with Bloomberg at the time he said that there had been no proposed structure for a deal that either of the two companies could pitch to shareholders.

Meanwhile, Malone had previously espoused the benefits of synergies in Germany and the Netherlands. The Danish merger was the first deal to land on Vestager’s desk since her predecessor was criticized for approving similar transactions.