LGI to make a bid for Kabel BW

US cable company Liberty Global Inc (LGI) has said it will make an offer for German cableco Kabel BW, Bloomberg reports, citing LGI’s chief strategy officer Shane O’Neill. Providence Equity Partners, the largest investor in Kabel Deutschland Holding, also plans to make an offer for Kabel BW. CommsUpdate reported earlier this month that the Baden-Wurttemberg-based cableco had drawn interest from a number of possible bidders ahead of a potential sale by Swedish private group EQT, including LGI, Kabel Deutschland and private equity firms Apax Partners, CVC Capital Partners and Hellman Friedman. EQT hired JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank in November 2010 to advise on an initial public offering (IPO) or sale of Kabel BW. EQT has been the sole shareholder in Heidelberg-based Kabel BW since it bought the cableco from US investment group Blackstone in April 2006 for around EUR1.3 billion (USD1.8 billion). It is evaluating all options and could sell the company, go for an IPO or keep the business. In the past, LGI has expressed an interest in acquiring Kabel BW, which had a cable subscriber base of around 2.3 million at 30 September 2010, including around 624,000 broadband and telephony customers. The US company completed the acquisition of German cableco Unitymedia in January 2010 for a total consideration of around EUR3.5 billion.