Germany’s fourth-largest cableco Primacom has submitted bids for Tele Columbus’ Berlin assets and Deutsche Telekabel as it aims to drive in-sector consolidation, according to managing director Wolf Waschkuhn.
Waschkuhn described Primacom – itself…
Germany’s fourth-largest cableco Primacom has submitted bids for Tele Columbus’ Berlin assets and Deutsche Telekabel as it aims to drive in-sector consolidation, according to managing director Wolf Waschkuhn.
Waschkuhn described Primacom – itself rumoured to be a target of private equity firms – as “hunters not hunted”.
The managing director, also a supervisory board member, told Reuters that, unlike financial sponsors, Primacom could act as a strategic partner in a potential deal and generate synergies. He noted that such a deal would have the support of the company’s owners: Alcentra, Avenue Capital, Tennebaum Capital and ING.
The report cited a source as saying Primacom would consider buying all of Tele Columbus, Germany’s third-largest cableco, for the right price.
Last week, news emerged that Tele Columbus is in advanced talks with several potential buyers, which include PE firm CVC Capital. It has been suggested that bidders could also target Primacom and merge the two companies to create a larger operation attractive to mobile operators.
Tele Columbus owners launched the sales process, managed by Rothschild, in April following Kabel Deutschland’s (KDG) unsuccessful €618m takeover bid which failed on antitrust grounds.
The once-fragmented German cable sector has seen an increasing amount of activity in recent years. UK-based Vodafone last week closed its €7.7bn (US$10bn) takeover of KDG, Germany’s number one cableco.
Meanwhile, John Malone’s Liberty Global (LGI) has been a key consolidator, acquiring Unitymedia for €3.5bn and KableBW for US$4.1bn, both in 2011, and merging them into a single entity. However, this August, a German court overturned the antitrust clearance of the deal, saying there were not tough enough concessions. LGI contests the ruling and the validity of the deal is still in doubt. LGI also made a preliminary bid for KDG this year before conceding defeat to Vodafone.
Tele Columbus and Deutsche Telekabel were not immediately available for comment.
