The private equity owners of French cableco Numericable are considering listing part of the company, according to Reuters citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
Cinven, Carlyle and businessman Patrick Drahi’s Altice Group have reportedly…
The private equity owners of French cableco Numericable are considering listing part of the company, according to Reuters citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
Cinven, Carlyle and businessman Patrick Drahi’s Altice Group have reportedly been in talks with 10 banks about a potential IPO, which would value the company at around €4bn.
Cinven might actually be the only owner exiting the cableco, while Carlyle and Altice would stay on board, the sources were quoted as saying.
But a listing of the company is not the only option considered by those firms. In late February, it was reported that Numericable was preparing a cash offer for Vivendi’s telecoms unit SFR with the view to a possible future merger.
Numericable CEO Eric Denoyer recently told French newspaper Le Figaro that a merger with SFR would make sense in the highly-competitive local market. He said a tie-up had been closely looked at as it “responds to a real industrial logic”.
However, SFR CEO Stephane Roussel said early this year that SFR is not for sale and never had been.
A listing or sale of Numericable would further illustrate the growing appetite of investors for European cablecos in the past few months.
US cable giant Liberty Global (LGI) recently acquired UK counterpart Virgin Media in deal worth €17.2bn (US$23.3bn), while Dutch cable company Ziggo successfully listed for €925m about a year ago.
Yesterday (17 April) it was reported that LGI, owner of German cableco Unitymedia KabelBW, is working on an offer for counterpart Kabel Deutschland (KDG).
According to its website, Numericable had revenues of €865m in 2011 and EBITDA of €436m.
The company declined to comment on the report.
