The French cable group Numericable is to put its Belgian and Luxembourg subsidiaries on the market.
Banker Rothschild has been appointed to oversee the sale of the profitable division that serves between 120,000 and 150,000 customers in the Brussels area.
Pascal Dormal, managing director, Numericable Belgium confirmed to Broadband TV News that the company was exploring a number of consolidation options that may lead to a sale. “We have been contacted by several players over the last few months and the reason for that is our performance has been excellent”. Dormal highlighted the stabalisation of the TV customer base, one of Europe’s best triple play penetrations, and a churn rate at record lows. Numericable’s digital TV service offers a package of up to 150 channels, PVR, telephony and broadband internet of up to 100 Mbps.
Numericable is 38% owned by the US investors The Carlyle Group, Cinven and Altice own around 35% and 30% respectively.
Numericable, the former Coditel, is the last independent operator in the capital that is otherwise divided shared with Brutélé.
Fierce competition is expected to surround the sale with interest anticipated from both private equity interests, the incumbent telco Belgacom and Liberty Global’s Telenet.
Last December, the four regulators serving the market put forward proposals to open up the country’s cable networks with regards to analogue cable television, digital television and broadband access.
