Liberty Global mulls bid for Ziggo: paper

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - U.S. cable group Liberty Global is considering a bid for Dutch cable firm Ziggo, estimated to be worth 8 billion euros ($10.6 billion) and which is planning a stock listing, Dutch daily De Telegraaf reported on Thursday without citing sources.

Liberty Global, which owns Dutch cable firm UPC and is led by billionaire John Malone, is the only company which could buy Ziggo, which is too expensive for strategic buyers because of its advanced network, the paper said.

Liberty Global in the Netherlands and UPC were not available to comment. Ziggo declined to comment.

Malone has been building and buying cable assets across some of Europe's smaller economies.

On Tuesday, De Telegraaf reported, citing unnamed sources, that Ziggo could be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange by the end of March.

Analyst Tim Poulous of research firm Telecompaper values Ziggo at 8 billion euros, the paper said on Thursday.

($1 = 0.7552 euro)

(Reporting by Roberta B. Cowan and Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Dan Lalor)

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Liberty Global mulls bid for Ziggo: paper