Liberty Global Sells Dutch Towers for €669 Million
EU Commission clearance of the VodafoneZiggo passive-tower sale is another step toward a mid-2027 Amsterdam listing of Ziggo Group.
Liberty Global Ltd. (LBTYA) said the European Commission has cleared the sale of VodafoneZiggo’s passive tower assets for €669 million, an asset-purchase transaction expected to close by year-end.
The telecoms group framed the clearance as another step toward listing Ziggo Group in Amsterdam in the middle of 2027 through a spin-off of the 90% stake Liberty Global will hold. Proceeds from the tower sale are part of the targeted €1.2-1.4 billion of non-core asset disposals intended to support that listing, with the cash used to deleverage VodafoneZiggo.
Chairman and CEO Mike Fries said: “We welcome the swift EU Commission clearance regarding the sale of our Dutch towers, which represents another important step towards the compelling listing of Ziggo Group next year. We can confirm that proceeds will be used for deleveraging at VodafoneZiggo alongside free cash flow generation ahead of the spin-off.”
The tower sale sits inside a larger Benelux reorganization that Liberty Global has been executing through 2026. In February, the company agreed to buy Vodafone Group’s 50% stake in VodafoneZiggo for €1.0 billion in cash and a 10% equity interest in a new company, Ziggo Group, which will hold Liberty Global’s interests in VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands and Telenet in Belgium and Luxembourg.
That acquisition closed on August 3, creating Ziggo Group as a Benelux connectivity business with 13 million customers and €6.6 billion of revenue. Vodafone received the cash and the 10% stake; Liberty Global holds the remaining 90% and plans to spin that interest to shareholders after an Amsterdam listing.
Management has said the proposed spin-off is intended to be tax-free for U.S. shareholders of Liberty Global, with evaluation of tax treatment in other jurisdictions ongoing. The listing is meant to follow the earlier spin-off of Sunrise, the Swiss telecoms group.
VodafoneZiggo CEO Stephen van Rooyen is appointed CEO of Ziggo Group, and Sunrise CFO Jany Fruytier is to become CFO once Ziggo Group begins operations in September. Both VodafoneZiggo and Telenet are to continue operating under their current brands and credit silos.
The tower transaction is one of the non-core disposals Liberty Global has pointed to as a path to deleveraging ahead of the spin-off, alongside free-cash-flow generation. The company said proceeds will be used for deleveraging at VodafoneZiggo.