Suddenly things are looking good again for the UPC takeover by Sunrise
Several major Sunrise shareholders spoke out against the planned acquisition of UPC. But now things are suddenly looking up again for the takeover envisioned by CEO Swantee.
Above all, the major German shareholder Freenet, which holds 25 percent of Sunrise shares, had publicly mobilized against the UPC takeover in recent weeks. CEO Christoph Vilanek announcedto vote against the purchase at the Extraordinary General Meeting and shortly afterwards spoke in an interview with the Handelszeitung of a "gross abuse of shareholder democracy".
How the Switzerland at the weekend in its current issue, further major shareholders subsequently joined Vilanek's course and decided against a Takeover at a price of 6.3 billion francs pronounced.
But now the tide has turned again: On Friday, supporters of the UPC deal spoke out for the first time. According to the news agency Reuters, one of the ten largest shareholders is said to have taken a clear stance and spoken out in favor of a takeover. The transaction makes "a lot of strategic sense" and, although not cheap, it makes more sense than a bad one that can be obtained cheaply. Other major shareholders appear to have agreed with this assessment.
This gives Sunrise CEO Olaf Swantee a new tailwind. Towards the Switzerland at the weekend he makes it clear that the majority of shareholders are in favor of the transaction, understand the industrial logic and see the synergies. "Many larger ones simply don't want to comment publicly."
Sunrise is primarily targeting UPC's network in the deal. The company is strong in the mobile communications sector, regularly achieves top marks for network quality and coverage and is the clear number two in Switzerland after Swisscom. However, today's customer demand calls for bundled offers that include all areas - including TV and Internet. Although Sunrise has been offering all services for years, it is still dependent on the Swisscom network. With the UPC cable network, which currently reaches most Swiss households, Sunrise could launch autonomous offers in one fell swoop, which would make the "detour" via its direct competitor Swisscom unnecessary.
