Numericable's private equity owners have asked banks to provide information and options as to a possible stock exchange listing for the firm this year. The owners are the Carlyle Group, Cinven and the Altice Group and they have invited ten different banks to submit proposals.
The public listing is projected to reap around Eur4 billion or US$5.3 billion for the French cable company. Should the sale push through, this is another indication that the investor interest in European cable operations is at an all time high as these firms take market share in the broadband market from the traditional telecommunications operators.
One such instance is the interest in Dutch cable group Ziggo in its listing last year and this year's approval for the acquisition of Virgin Media by Liberty Global.
The sale would allow the exit of Cinven from the business while the other two may opt to keep their shares. Numericable and Alice were unavailable to make a comment on the matter. Carlyle and Cinven declined to make any comment.
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