Norwegian cablenet Get has been put on the market for €1 billion. According to Reuters owners Quadrangle and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners expect to realize their assets early next year.
As is so often the case Liberty Global is in the frame as a potential purchaser.
It was the UPC owner that sold the network in 2005 as part of a restructuring that led it to pull out of markets where it could not achieve market leadership.
The buyout specialist Candover paid NOK3.6 billion (€413.8 million) to create what is now GET. A little under two years later and Candover had nearly doubled its investment to NOK5.8 billion, selling to Goldman Sachs and Quadrangle though retaining a minority stake.
With 1 million subscribers the network has been completely upgraded and GET is the number two operator in Norway after Telenor.
Get runs a single multiplatform headend delivering the customers the same user interface and product independent of IP or HFC.
The result is now when a new customer approaches GET they can be offered either a cable or an IP service, dependent on where they live, and the GET footprint extended to the burgeoning IP networks that may not otherwise have sufficient resources to run a TV offer of their own.
