More Cable Consolidation as Tele Columbus Buys PrimaCom

Global cable mergers continue to be one of 2015 stories, and today we saw another one over in Europe. Germany’s Tele Columbus has agreed to buy rival PrimaCom for $777M or so in cash.

The deal would combine the #3 and #4 operators in Germany, creating a larger #3 behind Liberty Global’s Unitymedia and Vodafone’s Kabel Deutschland with some 2.8M homes served.  Those two have more than double the subscribers, so it’s still a distant #3.

This is actually not the first time these two companies have gotten this far. Back in 2007, Orion Cable GmbH tried to integrate the two after buying 91% of PrimaCom. But the process foundered and PrimaCom eventually went through a refinancing and was bought by Luxembourg’s Medfort S.à rl.

But one thing the deal won’t have to face, apparently, is regulatory scrutiny. The combined revenues are under €500M, which is below the threshold necessary to seek permission from the German cartel office. Tele Columbus therefore expects to close the deal on July 31.

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Categories: Cable · Mergers and Acquisitions