The European cableco completed its acquisition of Ziggo last year – and Virgin Media in 2013 – and is now looking to reorganise its operations in a bid to create a “more investor-friendly capital structure”, Charlie Bracken, co-chief financial officer at Liberty Global, told Reuters.
A large-scale pan-European business, UPC has operations across central, eastern and western Europe, and investors have expected Liberty Global to divide the company up for some time.
"UPC has very much been our catch-all asset group," Nick Marchant, Liberty Global treasurer, told reporters. “But the reality in our mind is that UPC became too complex and too big.”
Ziggo is said to be raising approximately £730 million’s worth of new senior bonds to finance its merger with UPC Netherlands, while Virgin Media is thought to be raising £300 million in secured bonds and £625 million in unsecured bonds to fund its UPC Ireland deal.
