Cable operator giant Liberty Global plc (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK, LILA and LILAK) and Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) have confirmed they are in talks that could lead to the former acquiring the latter. According to Rule 2.7 of the UK's "City Code on Takeovers and Mergers," Liberty now has until November 19, 2015 to either announce a firm intention to make a bid for CWC or announce that it will not.

CWC, which provides communications services to the Caribbean (see, for example, "Cable & Wireless deploys Coriant hiT 7300 in Jamaica and Barbados") was created via a "demerger" that saw the company split from the European-focused Cable & Wireless Worldwide. Vodafone subsequently bought the Worldwide portion of the company in 2012 (see "Vodafone to acquire Cable & Wireless").

The operator recently made a purchase of its own, closing the acquisition of submarine network company Columbus International this past March.

Entrepreneur John Malone owns a significant stake in both Liberty, which owns UK cable operator Virgin Media, as well as CWC. He has been an aggressive proponent of consolidation, including the Malone-backed Charter's pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see "Charter goes for two with Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks acquisitions").

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