Liberty Global / Base Belgium European Commission Phase II Merger

After a Phase II investigation, the European Commission cleared in February 2016 the €1.325 billion transaction by which Belgian cable operator Telenet, a subsidiary of Liberty Global, would acquire mobile network operator Base Belgium. As Telenet also offered fixed and mobile services as an MVNO in the Belgian market, the approval was conditional on the divestiture of an MVNO activity.

Compass Lexecon advised a third party during the review by the Commission. We analyzed the potential horizontal and conglomerate effects of the transaction on the mobile and fixed markets in Belgium. Our team included David Sevy, Thibaut De Bernard, Anastasia Tseomashko and Jaime Coronado.