Liberty Global buys BSkyB shares to acquire 6.4% of ITV

Liberty Global, the new owner of Virgin Media, has acquired 260 million shares in ITV from BSkyB for around £481 million.

The investment means Liberty Global will own approximately 6.4% of the UK’s largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, and will require no regulatory approval.

“It is hard to see how this will not be looked at as anything other than Liberty planting a flag in the ground for a potential acquisition at some point,” said Liberum analyst Ian Whittaker.

“Liberty’s Virgin Media did look to buy ITV nearly a decade ago and presumably the rationale for a deal then – access to content, help to support the Virgin brand and grow customers, financial engineering – still exists now.”

Commenting on the deal, Mike Fries, Liberty Global’s chief executive officer, said: “This is an opportunistic and attractive investment for us in our largest cable market. ITV is the leading commercial broadcaster in the U.K. and we’re excited to be shareholders.”

ITV’s share price rose 7% to 196p in early trading on Thursday.