Liberty Global Acquires 259.8 Mln Shares In ITV For $824 Mln

(RTTNews) - Liberty Global Plc (LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) Thursday said it has acquired 259.8 million shares in ITV Plc (ITV.L) from British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY.L, BSYBY.PK) for total consideration of 481 million pounds or $823.6 million.

As a result of this investment, John Malone's Liberty Global, the owner of Virgin Media, will have about 6.4 percent holding in ITV.

Mike Fries, Liberty Global's CEO, said, "This is an opportunistic and attractive investment for us in our largest cable market. ITV is the leading commercial broadcaster in the U.K. and we're excited to be shareholders."

Liberty Global intends to finance the acquisition of ITV shares through existing liquidity as well as a loan linked to a hedging transaction that would be secured by ITV shares.

With this level of investment, no regulatory approvals are required, the firm noted.

Liberty Global also confirmed that it does not intend to make an offer to acquire ITV.

Meanwhile, BskyB said separately that the sale consists of 259,820,065 ITV shares at 185 pence per share for an aggregate consideration of around 481 million pounds. The company intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

ITV, which competes with Channel 5, has been speculated to be a take-over target for some years. The deal will give Liberty Global a stake in free-to-air channels such as ITV, ITV1 and ITV Family. ITV's top-rated shows include "Downton Abbey" and "X Factor."

ITV.L is up 7.7 percent in early morning trading at 197.90 pence. BSY.L is unchanged at 890.00 pence.

LBTYA gained 0.1 percent to close at $44.47.