Private equity group Apax Partners MidMarket has agreed to sell the cable operations held by its portfolio company Codilink to its co-investor Altice VII. Codillink will sell its 40% stakes in Numericable Belgium/Luxembourg and Portugal’s Cabovisao to its French partner later this year. The sale of Cabovisao is subject to regulatory approval in Portugal, while the Numericable transaction is expected to be completed by the end of November 2013. Apax Partners and Altice VII acquired Cabovisao in March 2012 for EUR45 million (USD60.5 million). Thomas de Villeneuve, a partner at Apax, commented: ‘We have been quickly convinced by Cabovisao’s potential and decided to invest despite the difficult situation of the Portuguese economy at the time. We are very proud to have supported Cabovisao’s tremendous revival. It is now time for the company to move to a next phase together with Altice’.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Altice is a telecoms investment group founded by Frenchman Patrick Drahi, which specialises in the acquisition of cablecos. Outside of the aforementioned companies Altice also holds telecoms interests in France (Numericable), Israel (HOT Telecommunications Systems), Switzerland and the Caribbean.