Tele Columbus rescued by creditors

Lenders to Tele Columbus have rescued the German cable operator after acquiring the company for €2.5m from Orion, a unit of financial investor Escalin.

According to local reports, Tele Columbus was in debt by €950m and close to insolvency. The deal means a proposed auction of shares in the company, which was enforced by creditors last month, was cancelled. According to the Financial Times, the new company owning Tele Columbus will have a new management team and lenders are set to start negotiations aimed at agreeing a restructuring of the cable operator’s debts. They are also likely to consider selling the company or expanding it via acquisitions.

Tele Columbus has three million customers, mainly in eastern Germany, and has an equity value of approximately €800m.