Euskaltel completes R acquisition
October 7, 2015
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Basque country-based Regional cable company Euskaltel has completed the acquisition of the Galician cable operator R for €1.19 million, including a €300 million debt.
The operation gives birth to a large regional cable group in the north of Spain – with the companies retaining their own brands – with a network of 725,000 km and over 715,000 subscribers.
Euskaltel has a potential reach of 2.2 million people, with R reaching 2.8 million. Both have a similar ARPU – €55.5 for Euskaltel and €55.7 in R’s case.
Further consolidation moves are expected in the future, with another independent cable company on the line: Telecable, a cable operator in the northern region of Asturias, owned by US private equity fund Carlyle.
Euskaltel is also seeking a merger with Telecable. Combined the three companies (Euskaltel, R and Telecable) would reach 340,000 TV subscribers with Euskaltel having over 110,000, R around 100,000 and Telecable 130,000.
Euskaltel is the leading broadband and pay-TV provider in the Basque Country, in the north of Spain, where its network reaches 85 per cent of homes. The company posted €321.2 million in revenue last year.