Liberty/Unitymedia: Unity of purpose

John Foley John Malone has pulled of a piece of classic downturn deal-making. The US media mogul’s Liberty Global has snapped up Unitymedia, Germany’s number-two cable operator, for E3.5bn. Rarely for a leveraged-buyout exit, both sides are getting what they want. Malone has tried to get into German cable previously, with the attempted purchase seven years ago of the Deutsche Telekom network from which Unitymedia eventually sprung. But regulators blocked the deal. Now he is getting a nice cons...