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By Bloomberg

Liberty Global Plc’s Belgian unit agreed to buy Royal KPN NV’s local mobile-phone business for 1.33 billion euros ($1.43 billion) in cash as billionaire John Malone gets his hands on a European wireless network for the first time.

Telenet Group Holding NV, majority owned by Malone’s Liberty Global, gains the Base network as it seeks to challenge larger Belgacom SA and Mobistar SA. Telenet said Monday it plans to finance the takeover with 1 billion euros of new debt in addition to existing cash. It currently rents network capacity from Mobistar, whose shares fell as much as 18 percent in Brussels.

The deal lets Liberty Global build a business with 2.4 billion euros in sales, while also targeting savings of 150 million euros. Malone has expanded through purchases across Europe and London-based Liberty Global now owns cable and phone operations stretching from Hungary to the U.K. The company has also added TV content and production to drive growth.

The price values Base at eight times the unit’s estimated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for this year, the companies said.

KPN shares added 2.3 percent to 3.24 euros at 11:36 a.m. in Amsterdam, as Telenet rose 5.4 percent to 55.30 euros in Brussels. Liberty Global lost 1.3 percent in New York on April 17.

Mobistar fell as low as 14.43 euros for its biggest intraday decline since 2013. The company, majority owned by Orange SA, said its network-renting agreement with Telenet is valid until 2017 and that its strategy is unchanged.

KPN Disposals

The purchase gives Telenet about 3.3 million mobile subscribers, bringing the total to more than 4 million. That compares with more than 5 million each for Belgacom and Mobistar.

KPN Chief Executive Officer Eelco Blok’s efforts to sell Base in 2012 were halted because the bids were too low. With a sale of Base, The Hague-based KPN will have operations only in its home market of the Netherlands, since the carrier completed the sale of its German unit E-Plus to Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG last year.

Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB is the biggest investor in KPN with a 21.4 percent stake. KPN holds a 20.5 percent stake in Telefonica Deutschland, and Blok has said that he is open to sell if the right opportunity arises.

Base has said it’s focused on increasing the share of customers with monthly contracts and their data usage in Belgium, where consumption remains relatively low. KPN said this month several parties had expressed interest in buying Base.

“The price is not too bad, I would have expected a little bit less,” Tom Muller, an analyst at Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers, said by phone. “Now you have to wait and see how the consolidation in Europe is going to play out in the coming years.”

KPN was advised by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. assisted Liberty Global.