Malone’s Liberty Vies With Vodafone for Cable Assets

Liberty Global, the European cable company controlled by billionaire John Malone, may compete with Vodafone for the continent’s few remaining cable assets as they seek to build pay-TV empires.

Liberty Global’s agreement to fully take over Dutch broadband provider Ziggo for $6.7 billion comes as Vodafone seeks to acquire Spain’s Grupo Corporativo ONO SA, which is preparing for an initial public offering, people familiar with the talks said. Cable takeovers fit the expansion strategy of London-based Liberty Global, which has spent almost $50 billion on European assets over the past decade. Vodafone made its biggest move into cable in October by beating Liberty Global for Germany’s Kabel Deutschland Holding AG, paying more than $10 billion.