Lining up for Kabel

Private equity is springing back to life. Banks appear to be lining up to back the biggest European buyout in two years – a 5 billion euro ($7.4 billion) bid for Kabel Deutschland, the German operator currently owned by Providence Equity Partners. Kabel offers the so-called triple-play: cable television, broadband internet and old-fashioned telephones. Germany is still a growth market. Only 58 percent of the country has broadband, almost 10 percentage lower penetration than in the UK. As yet, Ka...