Shearman & Sterling is advising Liberty Global plc on its acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) in a transaction with an enterprise value of approximately $8.2 billion (£5.5 billion). Completion of the acquisition is subject to, among other conditions, Liberty Global and CWC shareholder approvals, certain regulatory approvals and court sanction of the scheme of arrangement. 

Liberty Global is the largest international cable company with operations in 14 countries. The company’s market-leading products are provided through next-generation networks and innovative technology platforms that connected 27 million customers subscribing to 57 million television, broadband internet and telephony services at September 30, 2015. In addition, Liberty Global served five million mobile subscribers and offered WiFi service across six million access points. Liberty Global's consumer brands are Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet, UPC, VTR and Liberty.

Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full-service communications and entertainment provider, operating in the Caribbean and Latin America. With annual sales of over US$2.4 billion, it operates both mobile and fixed networks, supported by submarine and terrestrial optical fibre backhaul capacity. C&W has more than 7,500 employees serving over 6 million customers.