to Liberty Global Despite NTL Ireland turning a profit as a result of its expected merger with Telewest, the Irish assets were then considered non-core. In May 2005, NTL sold its Irish business to Morgan Stanley (on behalf of Liberty Global Europe (then called UGC Europe)). MS Irish Cable Holdings, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, held the stake on UGC's behalf, until the deal received regulatory clearance. However a Competition Authority investigation into the proposed resale of the company to Liberty Global Europe took place. On 4 November 2005 it was announced the Competition Authority had cleared the deal, subject to the appointment of an independent director to the board of UPC Ireland and restrictions on the influence of John C. Malone on the running of the Irish business. The deal was approved by the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin on 5 December 2005, and closed on 12 December 2005. At the time, Liberty used the "Chorus NTL" brand (under licence) in Ireland. Most aspects of the company were merged with Chorus (billing, website etc.). After a period branded as "Chorus NTL", the company carried out an extensive upgrade of the cable television networks it acquired, then re-launched as UPC Ireland. In early 2006 the two companies were placed under a single management team. On 3 July 2006 it was reported on RTÉ News that as part of the merger, up to 350 jobs would be lost, including the closure of NTL's call centre in Waterford. In December 2006 NTL's customer service department closed, and customer service was transferred to the former Chorus call centre in Limerick. In January 2007, billing was transferred to a new system. Rebranding On 25 January 2007, NTL Ireland updated the electronic programme guide software to remove the NTL logo and all mention of the NTL name. However the UPC name did not replace it, the areas which contained the NTL logo simply being left blank. The colour scheme was still NTL's. From 31 January 2007, NTL and Chorus began advertising jointly, although the adverts were simply the ongoing campaign from NTL with the Chorus logo added to them. In a Sunday Business Post article on 11 February 2007, UPC Ireland's marketing manager revealed that the rebrand was due to take place no later than May 2007. That did not happen, although, from July 2007, a composite "Chorus NTL" logo has