United Kingdom telecom giant Vodafone Group said Monday that talks with John Malone’s worldwide cable operator Liberty Global about possible asset swaps have ended.
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Negotiations broke down when the companies failed to agree on the value of Virgin Media and both companies’ assets in Germany, according to an insider, speaking to Bloomberg.
The companies never specified which assets – though the best fit seemed to be where they had heavy overlap: in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
The breakdown the Liberty Global talks means Vodafone will be unable to tap into Virgin Media’s broadband network, but the company has at least re-entered the broadband market with its own offering that piggybacks on BT’s Openreach infrastructure.
The talks had put the two European powerhouses at the center of a recent frenzy of European television and communications deal making.
“Conceptually there could be some real value created but realistically we haven’t been able to figure out a way to do that that’s mutually successful”, Malone told the newswire.
There has been speculation about Vodafone’s future since its 130 billion U.S. dollar (£78 billion) sale of its 45 per cent stake in United States business Verizon Wireless, to joint venture partner Verizon, which completed past year.
However, Vodafone has just confirmed that talks between it and Virgin Media are off.
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A deal between the companies would have reshaped Europe’s telecommunications and cable industries and also attracted antitrust scrutiny. Indeed, Deutsche Telekom has said it would oppose a deal.
