An edited version of this article was first published in my Marketplace
Investment Thesis
Liberty Global's (LBTYA)(LBTYK) narrative was squarely fixed on its capital allocation strategy, namely strong share repurchases. Thus far into 2019, Liberty Global has repurchased $3.2 billion (or 20% of its total shares outstanding).
There had been an expectation that, once Liberty Global divested of its Swiss operations for $6.2 billion (in debt and equity), it would resume further share repurchases.
But, given that Liberty Global failed to get its buyer's necessary shareholder approval, this meant that Liberty Global ended up holding