LBTYA Liberty Global Ltd

(Adds details on John Malone and Liberty Global's fourth-quarter earnings.)

--Including dividends and equity proceeds, Liberty will have nearly quadrupled its capital invested in Switzerland

--Liberty reported revenue from continuing operations grew 1.2% to $2.95 billion in the fourth quarter

By Micah Maidenberg

Cable tycoon John Malone is cashing out of Switzerland.

Mr. Malone's Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA), a holding company for European cable assets, said Wednesday that it will sell its Swiss unit UPC Switzerland to Sunrise Communications Group AG in a deal with an enterprise value of about $6.3 billion.

Liberty said it will receive roughly $2.6 billion cash from Sunrise, a Swiss telecommunications firm. Sunrise will also take on UPC's debt, which totaled about $3.7 billion at the end of 2018.

Mr. Malone, who is chairman of Liberty, has been looking to exit some of his telecom investments in Europe. Last May, Liberty announced the sale of its networks in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe. In December 2017, the company said it would sell its Austrian business.

Liberty Chief Executive Mike Fries said in prepared remarks that the company bought UPC's predecessor in 2005, investing $1.6 billion. Including dividends and equity proceeds, Liberty will have nearly quadrupled its capital invested in Switzerland, he said.

UPC's operation in Switzerland covers 2.3 million homes and provides video, broadband or voice services to 1.1 million customers, Liberty said.

"The combined company will have the scale to drive innovation, invest in new services and pursue growth by providing innovative and competitively priced offers," Sunrise said in a statement.

The deal is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Mr. Malone is known as a pioneer in the cable industry and a deal maker. Another one of his holding companies owns a significant stake in Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR), and Mr. Malone himself has invested in Discovery Inc. (DISCA), which owns cable channels.

Together, UPC and Zurich-based Sunrise would have recorded about $3.17 billion in revenue and earnings before interest, taxes and other costs of $1.33 billion in 2018.

Separately, Denver-based Liberty reported revenue from continuing operations grew 1.2% to $2.95 billion in the fourth quarter. Operating income rose 73% to $252.2 million.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2019 17:34 ET (22:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.