Montreal-based Cogeco Cable has sold its Portuguese subsidiary, Cabovisao – Televisao por Cabo SA, to European group Altice for €45million. Cogeco acquired Cabovisao for $660 million (€496 million) in 2006.
The sale marks the end of the European expansion of the Canadian telecoms company. During the third-quarter of 2011, Cogeco Cable completely wrote off its net investment in Cabovisao, which resulted in a $56.7 million (€42.6 million) loss for the period.
The operator suffered from the tough competition in the Portuguese TV market and difficult economic conditions in the country. At that time, the Portuguese cable operator was reported to be up for sale.
While widely anticipated for months, the sale marks the end of a difficult saga for Cogeco and its CEO Louis Audet, who had dreamed of a bigger European footprint.
Cogeco Cable is a telecommunications corporation and is the second largest hybrid fibre coaxial cable system operator in Ontario and Quebec.
Altice owns French cable operator Numericable and holds a stake with investment companies Apax Partners and Deficom in the Belgian and Luxembourg branch of Numericable.
