Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has reached an agreement to acquire an 85 per cent share of Spanish triple-play cable operator Telecable de Asturias. Liberbank will retain a minority stake after the transaction, which is expected to close by year-end. The transaction values the company at €400 million; equity for this investment will come from Carlyle Europe Partners III (CEP III), a €5.3 billion investment fund advised by The Carlyle Group.

Telecable has some 156,000 fixed and mobile voice and Internet users, and reported revenues in excess of €121 million in 2010. Carlyle intends to support Telecable’s growth and this investment will help enable the operator to keep pioneering introduction of innovative communication technologies in the Spanish market. Telecable was the first operator to broadcast HDTV channels in the country.

Carlyle’s other investments in the telecommunications sector include Com Hem, the Swedish cable television, Internet and telephony operator; Numericable and Completel, cable and telecoms providers in France with additional presence in Belgium and Luxembourg; Dutch cable operator Casema; and Nielsen, a global information and media company providing essential marketing information analytics.

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