Liberty nears acquisition of Ziggo

Liberty Global is close to finalizing an agreement to acquire Dutch broadband provider Ziggo, Bloomberg News reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.

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The companies are expected to announce a deal as early as the middle of this month, according to the people who asked not to be named because negotiations are private.

The parties are discussing several issues such as whether Ziggo Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rene Obermann will remain working at the company if it is bought by Liberty, the people said.

Obermann is a former CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG and started his job at Ziggo this month.

Liberty already owns a 28.5% stake in Ziggo.

In addition, the companies are discussing how to protect jobs once Ziggo’s operations are combined with Liberty’s existing Dutch subsidiary UPC, according to the people.

In October, Ziggo rejected an offer from Liberty saying that the proposed price was too low. The company did not disclose how much Liberty offered.