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Business News Deals Media
Liberty Global increases ITV stake
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 3 August 2015
Liberty Global – another company led by John Malone who, through Liberty Media, controls a quarter of Live Nation – last week increased its stake in ITV plc to 9.9%, having originally bought a 6.4% stake in the commercial broadcaster last year. But the company, which also owns Virgin Media, denied it had ambitions to take control of the ITV business.
Confirming it had boosted its stock, Liberty Global said: “Given ITV’s operating and stock price performance, we were able to increase our stake to 9.9% with no incremental investment by hedging our existing equity position. This investment remains an opportunistic one for us in our largest market”.
Despite Liberty saying that it wasn’t planning a takeover of ITV plc, analysts said on Friday that the fact the media firm is increasing its stake suggests execs there believe one of the company’s big media rivals may seek to acquire the UK telly business at some point in the future.
