The UK’s competition watchdog has approved a £31 billion ($42.6 billion) mega-merger between Virgin Media and O2 that’s expected to create one of the country’s largest fixed and mobile network services companies.
The deal values O2 at £12.7 billion ($17.5 billion) and Virgin at £18.7 billion ($25.7 billion); and according to the companies, the joint venture will generate £11 billion ($15 billion) annual revenue, on top of £6.2 billion ($8.5 billion) of synergies from the financial benefits enabled by the merger. More cost savings will be achieved as network infrastructures, IT systems and administration expenses are combined.