Liberty Global Ltd. has picked three bidders, including French infrastructure fund Ardian, to proceed to the next round of bidding for a stake in Belgian network company Wyre, people with knowledge of the matter said. Fellow French fund Infra Via Capital Partners SAS and Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan were also selected, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Deliberations are ongoing and details such as size and timing of the deal may change, the people said. Representatives for Liberty Global, Ardian, Infra Via and OTPP declined to comment. Bloomberg News reported in April that Liberty Global is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the sale and the stake in Wyre could be worth about €1 billion ($1.1 billion).

Founded in 2023 as a joint venture between Liberty Global’s Telenet and Fluvius, Wyre focuses on new fiber-optic networks for high-speed Internet, its website shows. It also carries out maintenance and improvements to the existing hybrid fiber-coaxial network. The company operates in Flanders and Brussels. Liberty Global in February agreed to acquire Vodafone Group Plc’s 50% shareholding in their Dutch communications joint venture, Vodafone Ziggo. Liberty Global has said it’s in the process of selling about half of its 66% stake in Wyre to help fund the deleveraging of Telenet.