 Bloomberg Opinion -- When negotiating with U.S. cable billionaire John Malone, your team can ill afford to have a weak link. Unfortunately for Sunrise Communications Group AG, its biggest shareholder is just that.Malones Liberty Global Plc announced a 110 Swiss franc-per-share deal on Wednesday that values the Zurich-based mobile carrier at 6.8 billion Swiss francs 7.4 billion, including debt. The price isnt exactly a knockout, but it may well be enough to win the day. That should leave most Sunrise investors frustrated at the failings of Freenet AG, the German firm that owns 24 of the Swiss companys stock.In February last year, the inverse deal was announced: Sunrise agreed to acquire Libertys Swiss cable business. But it required a 4.1 billion-franc rights issue to fund the transaction, and Freenet didnt have the money to buy enough new shares, so it blocked the deal.The logic of the combination remains sound. Bringing together Sunrises mobile operations and Libertys cable operations will generate plenty of cost savings. But those synergies also mean Liberty could afford to pay a lot more and still cover the targets cost of capital.Does that mean Sunrise shareholders can ask for more money? Probably not. Malones offer is the only option on the table. The one other fixed-network operator in Switzerland is state-controlled Swisscom AG, which already has its own mobile network. No other bidder could find the savings from combining networks to justify even Libertys current offer price, which is a 28 premium to the stocks close on Tuesday. And Liberty has an alternative target in Salt, a smaller Swiss carrier owned by Frances Iliad SA.Thats why the Swiss companys investors must be kicking themselves. If it werent for Freenets inability last year to fund its 1 billion-franc slice of the proposed rights issue, then Sunrise not Malone would be the beneficiary of the value created by those synergies, which will add almost 50 to the companys operating profit by the end of 2023. The price Sunrise agreed to pay last year was also potentially advantageous to the Swiss firm.Its been a busy year for Malone and his lieutenant Mike Fries, Libertys chief executive officer. In May the company agreed to combine its U.K. cable arm Virgin Media with Telefonica SAs British mobile operator, O2. The proceeds from that deal mean Liberty will still have 7 billion in cash, even after the 3.5 billion francs that its using to pay for Sunrise the rest of the offer is being funded by debt.It looks like more dealmaking is afoot. Prospective targets will want to ensure theyre better positioned than Sunrise.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Alex Webb is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europes technology, media and communications industries. He previously covered Apple and other technology companies for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comopinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2020 Bloomberg L.P. 