Liberty Global completes acquisition of Astral Telecom

International cable group Liberty Global has become the largest broadband cable operator in Romania following the completion of the purchase of 100% of Astral Telecom from a group of Romanian entrepreneurs and foreign investors including AIG New Europe Fund. The Romanian competition authorities approved the USD407 million deal late last week. Astral had around 890,000 video, voice and data customers at the end of June 2005, with a heavy presence in the Bucharest area. Liberty’s other domestic cable subsidiary UPC Romania claimed over 390,000 subscribers at 30 June 2005.