 The biggest deal since the coronavirus forced the world into a lockdown was sealed thanks to a frantic round of late night calls among bearded faces and without even a virtual toast to mark the creation of a new force in the British telecoms sector. Telefonica started courting Liberty Global in October sharing its ambition of crafting a deal for its British mobile operator O2 that would help the Spanish telecoms firm cut debt while retaining significant exposure to the UK market, three sources close to the deal told Reuters. Libertys billionaire founder John Malone was onboard, eager to extract value from British cable firm Virgin Media VMII.UL. 