If UK private equity group Cinven actually manages to find a buyer for half of the 70% stake it holds in French cable operator Numericable, it will almost certainly have got all of its money back and still hold 35% of the biggest cable operator in France.
Rumors that it is looking for a deal came out of Reuters this week after Cinven hired investment banks Rothschild and Morgan Stanley to find buyers. Most reports are suggesting the usual Private Equity players as likely buyers, as many of them have pan-European investments in the cable industry, which has been largely bought up, pushed towards digital networks and given enlivened management, and are now beginning to look a lot healthier. So naturally Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Permira and Carlyle have all been mentioned in a deal that might go as high as $2.9 billion.
In total Cinven has paid a little more than $1.5 billion for the stake in separate deals acquiring and merging French cable interests over the past three years. Cinven also holds a strong in Netherlands cable operator Casema which it bought with Warnurg Pincus for $2.65 billion in July 2006.