NMa Approves Acquisition of Casema by Carlyle and Providence

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) today approved the acquisition of Casema Holding B.V. by The Carlyle Group LLC and two funds of the Providence Equity group. These investors do not have any cable or media activities in Europe.

Earlier this year, Liberty Media Corporation announced that it wished to acquire Casema. At the beginning of November 2002, NMa decided that a licence would be required for this acquisition and that NMa therefore wished to investigate the acquisition further with regard to its consequences for competition. The acquisition would have resulted in 60 percent of all cable connections in the Netherlands being controlled by a single company, because Liberty also controls UPC.

After Liberty decided against the acquisition, the investment companies Carlyle and Providence announced that they wished to purchase Casema. Since this acquisition does not result in the merging of competitive activities and will therefore not result in the emergence or strengthening of a dominant position, NMa has given its approval.