Germany’s number three cableco Kabel BW is planning to list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the first half of the year.
EQT, the Swedish private equity owner of Kabel BW, is advised by JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. BofA Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of…
Germany’s number three cableco Kabel BW is planning to list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the first half of the year.
EQT, the Swedish private equity owner of Kabel BW, is advised by JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. BofA Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland are acting as joint bookrunners for the IPO, the cableco said in a statement.
Bloomberg wrote that EQT is seeking at least E500m from the IPO but may retain a stake in the cableco following the flotation.
Kabel BW is valued at around E3bn.
In recent months, it has been reported that the PE firm was looking to either sell the company or to list it, depending on the offers made.
Until a few days ago, US cable giant Liberty Global as well as private equity firms CVC and Hellman & Friedman were rumoured to be the three remaining bidders for Kabel BW.
It had been previously reported that the cableco had received a total of five bids: the three aforementioned companies plus PE firms Cinven and Providence (which owns 45% of Germany’s largest cableco Kabel Deutschland).
Speaking at the February’s Cable Congress in Switzerland, Liberty Global’s chief strategy officer Shane O’Neill said that if Liberty could get Kabel BW at the right price, it would go ahead with it. But he also said that Dutch cableco Ziggo “would be a better fit.”
About a year ago, PE firm Providence listed KDG in a successful E759m IPO, after also examining the option of a sale. Commenting on the KDG IPO during the Cable Congress, Marisa Drew, co-head of global markets solutions group at Credit Suisse, said: “Cable, in its current form, holds the most opportunity in terms of delivery speed format, products, functionality. This what investors are buying when they buy cable.
“I think we’ll see much more dual track IPO/sales that run side by side and we’ll see where the bids come in and ultimately a decision will be taken depending on who shows up to the party.”
But a banker familiar with cable deals told TelecomFinance that some suitors are not keen on dual-track processes, given that they might be wasting their time.
Had EQT decided to sell Kabel BW to another cableco, the deal would most likely have met regulatory hurdles.
The Cartel Office, Germany’s regulator, told KDG in the past it was not allowed to merge with Kabel BW or Unitymedia, which is owned by Liberty Global, on anti-trust grounds. The regulator’s main concern is believed to be on the content side rather than the distribution side.
