Vodafone ends Liberty Global talks

Vodafone has confirmed it has ended talks with USA cable provider Liberty Global that could have seen the two companies trade some of their largest assets.

For its part, Vodafone has acquired fixed-line assets in Germany and Spain to shore up its flagging mobile business in Europe and bolster its position as a unified media player in a rapidly-evolving market of bundled services.

It is worth considering that mergers between Vodafone and Liberty Global in certain European markets would have faced scrutiny from the European Commission. The 700 million euros of German unit Unitymedia GmbH’s January 2027 bonds declined 5.1 cents to a record 84.4 cents.

And now it appears the asset swap talks have come to nothing as well.

However, talks had stalled in recent weeks and the deal looked increasingly unlikely after Mr Malone said they “hadn’t been able to figure out a way to [make it] mutually successful”. For Liberty Global, a deal with Vodafone would have deepened a shift in strategy at a media company that until recently has shied away from owning wireless networks.

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

“It’s good news that Vodafone is not sucked into a swap of assets – I was never convinced that there was real value for shareholders in that scenario”, said Paul Marsch, an analyst at Berenberg Bank in London. Malone had said a deal involving those countries could be attractive for Liberty, the world’s biggest cable company. The Nasdaq-listed company had been seeking a way to combine its networks with Vodafone’s to offer full bundles of broadband, mobile and television services to consumers.