Lutz Schüler to be appointed Chief Executive Officer and
Patricia Cobian to be appointed Chief Financial Officer of the
combined company upon completion of the transaction
Liberty Global and Telefonica today announced their intention to
appoint Lutz Schüler as Chief Executive Officer and Patricia Cobian
as Chief Financial Officer of the proposed 50-50 joint venture
combining Virgin Media and O2. The merger is subject to approval by
the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK.
Lutz Schüler joined Virgin Media in 2018 as Chief Operating
Officer and has been CEO at Virgin Media since June 2019. Prior to
that, Schüler spent more than seven years as CEO of Unitymedia
GmbH, Liberty Global’s highly successful German operation, which
was sold to Vodafone in 2018. During his tenure at Virgin Media he
has transformed business performance with the acceleration of 1 Gig
broadband, the rollout of new entertainment and smart WiFi services
and the market’s first fixed-mobile bundles. Schüler is a 27-year
veteran of the telecoms industry, beginning his career at T-Mobile
Deutschland in 1994 and later serving in various senior management
roles, including Chief Operating Officer with Telefonica’s O2
German subsidiary from 1998 to 2010.
Patricia Cobian is currently Chief Financial Officer for O2, a
position she has held since 2016. During a 15-year career with
Telefonica she has held a number of senior management positions.
Before taking on her current role, Cobian was Director for Business
Development in Telefonica Europe, where she led strategy, marketing
innovation and played a key role in a number of partnerships,
spectrum auctions, infrastructure sharing deals and key
acquisitions and divestitures in the region. She also led the
post-merger integration planning of Telefonica Deutschland with
ePlus. Before joining Telefonica, Cobian was a consultant with the
TMT and Corporate Finance practices of McKinsey & Company.
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, and José Maria
Alvarez-Pallete Lopez, CEO of Telefonica, commented: “We are about
to embark on an exciting new chapter for Virgin Media and O2, and
Lutz and Patricia are the right leaders to deliver on our ambition
to create the UK’s national connectivity champion. Together they
will build a strong, diverse and dynamic team that will bring more
choice, more value and world-class innovation to over 46 million
fixed and mobile customers and the broader consumer and enterprise
market.”
They continued: “Lutz is a unique talent and a perfect fit for
the new combined company. He has extensive experience in fixed and
mobile and a fantastic track record at both Liberty and Telefonica
driving transformation and growth. Together, Virgin Media and O2
will need to quickly capitalize on strategic opportunities in
network expansion, digitalization, convergence, 5G and video – all
areas where Lutz has a strong background and a clear vision. We
couldn’t have a better leader steering us through these critical
and exciting times.”
Lutz Schüler, commenting on his upcoming role, said: "I’m both
humbled and proud to be appointed CEO of this powerful combination
between Virgin Media and O2, and I’m excited that we are getting
closer to realizing our vision of creating a true connectivity
champion in the UK. I have enormous respect for Mark and appreciate
the partnership we've developed as we prepare both businesses to
come together as one and I’m very enthusiastic about working with
Patricia as CFO. She is an extremely talented leader and together
we will build a strong, high performing team.”
José Maria Alvarez-Pallete Lopez, CEO of Telefonica, added: “I
would like to place on record my appreciation for the exceptional
leadership of Mark Evans, the current CEO of O2. Since his
appointment in 2016, the business has established itself as the
UK’s number one network by scale and customer satisfaction and
delivered five consecutive years of profit growth. Valuation grew
by £3bn, making this deal possible. He has also played an
instrumental role for the Telefónica Group and our strategy. Mark
will remain in his post until completion.”
Mark Evans said: “I am proud to have served Telefonica, O2, its
employees and customers, especially as CEO over the last five
years, and have enjoyed the journey immensely. It has been both a
personal and professional honour to have established O2 as the UK’s
number one mobile network and most compelling brand. I'm confident
the joint venture I helped bring to the table will come to fruition
and go on to establish itself as the national connectivity champion
the UK deserves. In Liberty Global, Telefonica has found a
first-class partner, and together their brand portfolio and their
remarkable employees have an exciting future ahead.”
Liberty Global and Telefonica announced the joint venture last
May, bringing together Virgin Media, the U.K.’s fastest broadband
network, and O2, the country’s largest and most admired mobile
platform. The combination will create a stronger fixed and mobile
competitor in the U.K. market, supporting the expansion of Virgin
Media’s giga-ready network and O2’s 5G mobile deployment for the
benefit of consumers, businesses and the public sector. The joint
venture is expected to deliver substantial synergies valued of more
than £6 billion on a net present value basis after integration
costs and will create a nationwide integrated communications
provider with £11 billion of revenue.
To find out more and to follow our progress, visit
www.nationalconnectivitychampion.co.uk.
About Telefonica
Telefónica is one the largest telecommunications service
providers in the world. The company offers fixed and mobile
connectivity as well as a wide range of digital services for
residential and business customers. With 344 million customers,
Telefónica operates in Europe and Latin America. Telefónica is a
100% listed company and its shares are traded on the Spanish Stock
Market and on those in New York and Lima.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) is one of the
world’s leading converged video, broadband and communications
companies, with operations in seven European countries under the
consumer brands Virgin Media, Telenet, UPC, the combined Sunrise
UPC, as well as VodafoneZiggo, which is owned through a 50/50 joint
venture. Our substantial scale and commitment to innovation enable
us to invest in the infrastructure and digital platforms that
empower our customers to make the most of the digital
revolution.
Liberty Global delivers market-leading products through
next-generation networks that connect customers subscribing to 49
million broadband, video, fixed and mobile telephony services
across our brands. We also have significant investments in ITV,
All3Media, ITI Neovision, LionsGate, the Formula E racing series
and several regional sports networks. For more information, please
visit www.libertyglobal.com.
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Enquiries:
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