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Liberty to close DT deal
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August 23, 2001: 6:10 p.m. ET
Malone-led media company to close buy of six DT cable TV stations
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Liberty Media plans to complete its acquisition of six regional cable networks from Deutsche Telekom next week, press reports said.
The sale, long expected, had encountered some regulatory problems. Denver-based Liberty had considered pulling out the deal if it did not receive regulatory assurances from German regulators that the acquisition would clear, the Financial Times said.
Liberty will make an announcement by the end of next week, the Wall Street Journal reported; the newspaper pegged the purchase price at more than $5 billion. Regulatory approval could take up to four months.
Earlier this month, Liberty officially split from AT&T Corp. and is now operating as a separate, independent, publicly traded company.
The DT buy is part of Liberty Media Chairman John Malone's push into Europe. The acquisition of 6 cable television will give Liberty access to more than 10 million homes in Germany, the second-largest TV market in Europe.
Deutsche Telekom (DT: down $0.06 to $15.24, Research, Estimates) has said the deal was on track, press reports said. News of the Liberty's hesitation were first reported by German business daily Handelsblatt.
Malone is expected to continue rolling up German cable systems and is expected to make a bid for PrimaCom AG (PCAG: up $0.32 to $3.31, Research, Estimates). Liberty also is seen boosting financing of United Pan-Europe Communications NV (UPC), Europe's leading cable television company with 7 million subscribers in 17 European countries as well as Israel.
Neither Liberty (LMC.A: down $0.25 to $14.60, Research, Estimates) nor Deutsche Telekom could not be reached for comment. 
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Liberty Media
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