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UK's Virgin Media O2 in talks to buy TalkTalk - report

Published 15/07/2022, 16:05
Updated 15/07/2022, 16:16
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a company logo outside a TalkTalk building in London, Britain October 23, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a company logo outside a TalkTalk building in London, Britain October 23, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/

LONDON (Reuters) -Virgin Media O2, the British broadband and mobile company owned by Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) and Telefonica (BME:TEF), is in talks to buy broadband rival TalkTalk, Sky News reported on Friday.

A Sky News report said Virgin Media 02 had submitted an indicative bid to buy the company for about 3 billion pounds ($3.56 billion).

TalkTalk, a challenger brand serving 4.2 million customers at the lower-priced end of the market, was taken private by shareholder Toscafund, private equity owner Penta and founder Charles Dunstone in a 1.8 billion pound deal including debt, deal in December 2020.

Virgin Media O2 has its own cable and fibre network, providing superfast broadband to nearly 6 million customers, and it vies with BT (LON:BT)'s EE at the top of the mobile market.

TalkTalk buys capacity on BT's Openreach network to provide its broadband services.

Shares in BT were trading down 7% after the report.

Lazard is advising Talktalk on a potential sale, while LionTree is advising Virgin Media O2, according to reports.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a company logo outside a TalkTalk building in London, Britain October 23, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/

Virgin Media O2 and TalkTalk declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8432 pounds)

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