Liberty Global proceeds with Telenet offer amid valuation questions

Liberty Global Inc. doesn't plan to change its offer to buy out the shares of Belgium's Telenet Group Holding NV for 35 euro ($45) a share, despite a Lazard Ltd. report saying the company is worth 37 euro to 42 euro.

Douglas County-based Liberty announced plans last month to buy the almost 50 percent of Telenet that it doesn't already own for a total of about $2.58 billion . Lazard, a financial advisory firm, was hired to assess the shares under Belgian takeover rules.

Liberty, a cable company led by billionaire John Malone, said Monday that Lazard's methodology was flawed.

"Liberty Global has serious reservations regarding the long-term business-plan assumptions that were used in the valuation report prepared by Lazard," the company said Monday in a statement. "Liberty Global believes that these assumptions form a speculative plan that cannot be reasonably achieved or implemented."

"Liberty Global continues to believe that the offer price represents a meaningful premium to its view on the intrinsic value of Telenet and a unique opportunity for the shareholders to monetize their entire investment at a time when the European cable sector is trading at a multiyear high," Liberty Global said.

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Liberty Global proceeds with Telenet offer amid valuation questions