Deutsche Telekom is selling its cable TV business in the remaining six regions to an investor consortium
Proceeds will make significant contribution to reducing debt.
January 28, 2003 -- Deutsche Telekom has sold its remaining six regional cable TV networks. The purchase contract was signed today with an investor consortium made up of Apax Partners, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Providence Equity. The price for the deal is € 1.725 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of March 2003. The sale is subject to various conditions, including approval from the EU competition authority and financing.
"With today''s transaction, Deutsche Telekom has taken another important step in reducing the ratio of net debt to EBITDA to 3:1 by the end of 2003," said Dr. Karl-Gerhard Eick, Member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management, Finance and Controlling. "The sale of the cable TV business is a key element in our program to dispose of non-core business activities. The proceeds will be used to reduce debt."
The transaction includes Deutsche Telekom's remaining cable operations in the regions of Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein/Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony/Bremen, Berlin/Brandenburg, Saxony/Saxony-Anhalt/Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland and Bavaria, as well as the relevant central operations. At the same time it was agreed with the investors that the purchase price will increase up to a further € 375 million depending on the value of the cable business in the future. The number of staff employed in the companies included in the deal totals approximately 2,500. They will be taken over by the new owner as soon as the transaction is completed.