Kabel Deutschland KDG will not be allowed to merge with two other major German cable operators, Kabel BW and Unitymedia, according to a report in the Handelsblatt.
A spokesperson from the monopoly commission Bundeskartellamt said would be “problematic” if the three were to merge. During last month’s Cable Congress in Berlin KDG CEO Adrian von Hammerstein said he was working on such a consolidation.
At the moment, KDG is owned by Providence; Unitymedia belongs to Apollo and BC Partners and Kabel-BW is owned by the Swedish EQT. All three networks are former Deutsche Telekom nets.