Vodafone Czech Republic a.s., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zartkoruen Mukodo Részvénytársaság, Vodafone Romania S.A. and Vodafone Europe B.V. (buyers) entered into definitive agreement to acquire Unitymedia BW Gmbh, UPC Ceská republika, s.r.o., UPC Magyarország Kft. and UPC Romania S.R.L. from Liberty Global plc (NasdaqGS:LBTY.A) for an enterprise value of €18.4 billion on May 9, 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, the enterprise value is expected to comprise approximately €10.8 billion of cash consideration paid to Liberty Global and €7.6 billion of existing Liberty debt, subject to completion adjustments. Vodafone Czech Republic a.s. will acquire UPC Ceská republika, s.r.o., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a.r.l. will acquire Unitymedia BW Gmbh, Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zartkoruen Mukodo Részvénytársaság will acquire UPC Magyarország Kft., Vodafone Romania S.A. will acquire the majority stake and Vodafone Europe B.V. will acquire the minority stake in UPC Romania S.R.L. UPC Ceská republika, UPC Magyarország and UPC Romania will be acquired on a cash-free, debt-free basis, while it is expected that Unitymedia's existing bond structure (€4.5 billion outstanding) will be retained and refinanced over time, with €2.2 billion of Unitymedia's term loans to be refinanced shortly after completion. The €10.8 billion of cash consideration payable to Liberty Global and the refinancing of Unitymedia's term loans will be financed using Vodafone's existing cash, around €10 billion of new debt facilities (including hybrid debt securities) and around €3 billion of mandatory convertible bonds, which will be issued prior to completion. The cash consideration payable to Liberty Global will be subject to adjustments for net debt and other items at completion. Liberty Global will continue to have European operations in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Slovakia, as well as its joint venture in the Netherlands called VodafoneZiggo. A break fee of €250 million will be payable by Vodafone, in certain circumstances, if the transaction does not complete. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, Unitymedia, UPC Ceská republika, UPC Magyarország and UPC Romania together reported profit before tax of €27 million, revenues of €2.9 billion and EBITDA of €1.6 billion and as at December 31, 2017, they reported gross assets of €10.6 billion. Management and employees of the acquired businesses will be retained. Vodafone Romania announces the new Executive Management Team for both Vodafone and UPC Romania following the recent approval of European Commission for the transaction between the two companies. The members of the Executive Management Team are reporting to Murielle Lorilloux, Chief Executive Officer of both companies. Mostafa El Beltagy will be Consumer Business Unit Director. Mihnea Radulescu, currently Chief Executive Officer of UPC Romania, will be Vodafone Business Unit Director. Catalin Buliga will be Technology Director. Ioana Mihailescu will be Customer Operations Director. Sibaji Biswas will be Finance Director. Fragiski Melissa will be HR & Property Director. Livia Dumitrescu will be Legal & External Affairs Director. Razvan Bogasiu is taking over the role of Senior Manager, Strategy & Wholesale. As of November 8, 2018, Germany's competition regulator has made a formal request to the European Commission to take over the investigation into Vodafone's proposed acquisition. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. It is not subject to Vodafone or Liberty Global shareholder approvals. As of July 18, 2019, the transaction has been approved by the European Commission. This structure will only become effective as of August 1, 2019 upon closing of the transaction between Vodafone and UPC. Until then, the two companies will continue to operate as separate competing entities. The closing of the acquisition is anticipated around the middle of 2019. As of July 18, 2019, the transaction is expected to be completed by July 31, 2019. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to free cash flow per share from the first year post-completion and double digit accretive from the third year post completion, after cost and capex synergies and before integration costs, supporting Vodafone's intention to grow its dividend per share. Morgan Stanley, Robey Warshaw and UBS acted as financial advisors to the buyers. Roland Turnill, Susannah Macknay, James Cook, Katharina Hesse, Katie Kershaw, Chris Marlor, Aleezeh Liaqat, Catherine O’Callaghan, Matthew Atkinson, Claire Jeffs, Kerry O’Connell, Ying Wu, Emma Griffiths, Lauren Dingsdale, Florian Von Schreitter, Duncan Blaikie, Oliver Howley, Michaela Peck, Matthew Harman, Rafaella Felthun, Steve Edge, Orlaith Kane, Alex Fisher, Rose Swaffield, Oliver Storey, Charlie McGarel-Groves, Steve Dempsey, Jonathan Fenn, David Rintoul, Jane Edwarde and Gemma Goddard of Slaughter and May acted as legal advisors to the buyers. LionTree and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors to Liberty Global. David Sonter, David Brooks, Rhys Evans, Sascha Schubert, Peter Clements, Jochen Ellrott, Frank Röhling, Klaus Beucher, Alice Greenwell and Boris Dzida of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP acted as legal advisors to Liberty Global. George Casey, Robert Katz, Jeremy Kutner, Grace Jamgochian & Richard Porter of Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP acted as legal advisors to Liberty Global. Jane Rogers, Rob Haak and Alex Robb of Ropes & Gray International LLP acted as legal advisors to Liberty Global. Ivan Solyom, Peter Lakatos, Gyorgy Toth, Adrienn Mandoki and Eva Bognar of Lakatos, Köves and Partners acted as legal advisors to Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zartkoruen Mukodo Részvénytársaság. Chris Watson, Helen Rodwell, Lukas Janicek, Frances Gerrard, James Oczko, Pavel Kocian, Dora Petranyi, Aniko Kircsi, Gabor Gelencser, Horea Popescu, Claudia Nagy, Bogdan Buta, Mircea Moraru and Jacqueline Vallat of CMS Cameron McKenna acted as legal advisors to Liberty Global. Latham & Watkins acted as legal advisor for Liberty Global. EY acted as an accountant to Vodafone Group Services Limited. Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii acted as legal advisor to Vodafone Group Plc. Maximilian Schiessl, Martin Ulbrich, Christoph Stadler, Christian Hoefs, Fabian Seip, Andreas Breier, Patrick H.Wilkening and Peter Wehner of Hengeler Mueller Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB served as legal advisors to Vodafone Group PLC, the parent of the buyers in the transaction. Vodafone Czech Republic a.s., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zartkoruen Mukodo Részvénytársaság, Vodafone Romania S.A. and Vodafone Europe B.V. (buyers) completed the acquisition of Unitymedia BW Gmbh, UPC Ceská republika, s.r.o., UPC Magyarország Kft. and UPC Romania S.R.L. from Liberty Global plc (NasdaqGS:LBTY.A) on July 31, 2019.