Danish telco TDC has created the largest grouping of cable TV in Scandinavia with the purchase of GET from GS Capital Partners and Quadrangle Capital Partners for NOK 13.8bn (€1.79bn).
Get will contribute 500,000 connected homes to 1.2 million from YouSee to reach a total of 1.7 million.
“The acquisition of Get is TDC Group’s most significant investment in many years. We have awaited this opportunity and see it as a natural and timely extension of our business and it marks an evolution of TDC Group into a leading Scandinavian provider of TV, home entertainment and high speed broadband on the cable platform. It is also a strategic move into the consumer market in Norway within an industry we know very well from having run our YouSee cable business in Denmark successfully for years,” says Carsten Dilling, President and CEO, TDC.
Dilling says TDC Norway and Get are an excellent match, both from a technical infrastructure perspective and also with respect to the commercial approach each management team brings to the business.
“Get is a well-run business with world class, innovative products. It operates in an attractive market with large growth potential. This growth is underpinned by the very strong economy in Norway. With 2005 as the only exception Get has had two-digit growth rates since 2000 and is today among the most profitable on a European scale. The acquisition strengthens our cable TV business on a Nordic level as well as ensures a very strong presence on both the business and the consumer market in Norway for TDC Group”, says Carsten Dilling.
Gunnar Evensen, who has been CEO since 2000, will continue in his role after the acquisition, taking on the task of creating a new structure for the combined company.
“TDC Norway and Get are a strong match and we are enthusiastic with all the new possibilities. We look forward to continue to develop the best and most user friendly products to our customers and together continue our expansion in the business market. With TDC as part of the team we will become an even stronger company which will strengthen our position on the Norwegian market,” says Gunnar Evensen.
The acquisition is subject only to competition approval from the Norwegian competition authorities and it is expected to close in Q4 2014.
GET was created as a company in 2005 when UPC took the decision to sell its interests in cable operators where it could not reasonably achieve market leadership, it meant a total withdrawal from the Nordic market. Its Swedish interests became a part of Com Hem, while in neighbouring Norway the buyout specialist Candover paid NOK3.6 billion (€413.8 million) to create GET. A little under two years later and Candover had neared doubled its investment to NOK5.8 billion, selling to Goldman Sachs and Quadrangle though retaining a minority stake.
