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Ziggo Stage: LBOs and Special Situations Date of Investment: 2005 Web Site : http://www.ziggo.nl
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Ziggo is the combination of the Dutch cable operators Multikabel, Casema and Essent Kabelcom. Warburg Pincus acquired Multikabel in December 2005. The company was the market leader and sole cable operator in its franchise areas, providing triple play services, including video, broadband Internet and telephony, to 315,000 subscribers in 38 municipalities across the province of Noord-Holland. In September 2006, Warburg Pincus partnered with Cinven, a European private equity firm to acquire Casema, the third largest cable operator in the Netherlands, for an enterprise value of €2.1 billion. Casema, headquartered in The Hague, had 1.3 million cable subscribers in the Netherlands serving the central and western parts of the country, covering such cities as the Hague, Utrecht, Breda and areas surrounding Amsterdam. Warburg Pincus's position in Multikabel was contributed to a new holding company owned equally by Warburg Pincus and Cinven. In August 2006, Warburg Pincus and Cinven signed an agreement to acquire Kabelcom from Essent N.V., a Dutch public utility company, at an enterprise value of €2.6 billion. Kabelcom, headquartered in Groningen, was the second largest operator in the Netherlands covering homes in the northern, eastern and southern parts of the country, with 1.7 million cable subscribers. The three way businesses were combined uner a new brand name, Ziggo, in June 2008. The combination constitutes the largest cable operator in the Netherlands with 3.4 million cable, 1.3 million Internet and 450,000 telephony subscribers, and an estimated 55% of the Dutch cable market.
