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published NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Freshfields advises Liberty Global on acquisition of Unitymedia

International cable operator Liberty Global, Inc. has today announced it will acquire Germany’s second largest cable operator, Cologne-based Unitymedia GmbH, for a purchase price of approximately €3.5bn. Liberty Global has entered into a purchase agreement with the sole shareholder Unity Media S.C.A. International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising Liberty Global on the acquisition. Under the terms of the agreement, Liberty Global will acquire 100 percent of shares of Unitymedia for an equity purchase price of approximately €2.0 billion from Unity Media S.C.A., which is owned by a group of shareholders led by finance investors BC Partners and Apollo. The transaction is subject to EU regulatory approval and is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2010. Unitymedia is the largest cable operator in the German federal states of Nordrhein-Westfalen and Hessen, which combine into one of the most densely populated regions in Germany, with the cable network passing approximately 8,8 million homes and covering 10 out of the 20 largest cities. Liberty Global serves approximately 17 million customers in 14 countries, principally located in Europe, as well as Japan, Chile and Australia. The advising Freshfields team was led by Michael Haidinger (corporate) and Thomas Tschentscher (TMT) and includes Frank Montag and Laurent Garzaniti (both competition), Yorck Jetter (finance), Christian Sistermann (tax), Mark Strauch (corporate), Thomas Müller-Bonanni (employment), Hans-Joachim Prieß (public affairs), Julia Sommer, Danielle Herrmann (both TMT), Achim Müller (corporate), Christian Krohs and Ben Graham (both competition), Peter Ruess (IP/IT) and Tilmann Gütt (finance). Freshfields is working closely on the transaction with the in-house team at Liberty Global and its European subsidiary UPC, led by Ton Tuijten (General Counsel), Andrea Salvato (Head of M&A) and Manuel Kohnstamm (Managing Director Public Policy & Communications).