Liberty Global ups stake in ITV to just under 10%

31st Jul 2015 09:20

(ShareCast News) - Liberty Global has acquired 138.7m shares in ITV, upping its stake in the broadcaster to 9.9%.The purchase brings the telecommunications and cable group's total holding to 398.5m.At the same time, Liberty has entered into a hedging transaction with respect to the ITV shares it has acquired and obtained further financing from its hedge counterparty.Liberty Global's chief executive, Mike Fries, said: "Given ITV's operating and stock price performance, we were able to increase our stake to 9.9% with no incremental investment by hedging our existing equity position."This investment remains an opportunistic one for us in our largest market. ITV is a well-run company with attractive growth potential, and we are pleased to increase our position as their largest shareholder."At 0824BST, ITV shares were up 1.5% at 275.70p.