Unity Media investors mull sale

摘要

The private-equity investors behind German cable operator Unity Media are seriously considering putting the company up for sale in 2008, New Media Markets has learned. Unity Media is Germany's second-largest cable operator and serves nearly 4.8 million customers in the German states of Hesse and Northrhine-Westphalia. It is owned by private-equity firms BC Partners and Apollo Management, which hold 38 per cent and 32-per-cent stakes, respectively. One senior executive familiar with the situation said that a sales process of the company should be expected to start in the second half of this year, most likely the autumn. It is understood that bankers had been raising the prospects of a sale and had already alerted potential buyers to the asset, the executive said. Apollo Management, which is believed to be looking for an opportunity to exit the German cable market, is understood to be the driving force behind the push to sell Unitymedia.