Consortium led by BC Partners to buy US cable operator Suddenlink for $6.6 bn
19 Jul 2012
A consortium led by private equity firm BC Partners, Canadian Pension fund CPP Investment Board (CPPIB) and the management of Suddenlink Communications will acquire the US cable operator for about $6.6 billion.
The deal is one of the several recent buyouts in the US cable industry, including the 2011 purchase of Insight Communications from Carlyle Group by Time Warner Cable for $3 billion and yesterday's acquisition of Atlantic Broadband by Canada's Cogeco Cable for $1.36 billion. (See: Canada's Cogeco Cable to buy US-based Atlantic Broadband for $1.36 bn)
BC Partners, CPPIB and Jerry Kent, CEO of Suddenlink are buying the cable operator from private equity firms Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Quadrangle and Oaktree Capital Management.
The terms of the deal, includes $1.99 billion equity to be invested by the consortium, along with incremental debt of $500 million and assumption of existing net liabilities of $4.094 billion, valuing the deal at $6.6 billion.
St. Louis, Missouri-based Suddenlink is the seventh-largest cable system operator in the US and the leading television and internet service provider in its markets.
Suddenlink offers television, high-speed Internet and telephony services to over 1.4 million residential and commercial customers, primarily in Texas, West Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The company generated $1.96 billion in revenue in its fiscal year 2012.
Kent said that the deal will allow his team to continue investing in new infrastructure, new technology, and most importantly, employees.
