Primacom likely to merge with Tele Columbus

German cable operators Primacom and Tele Columbus are likely to merge in an attempt to alleviate the financial problems of their joint parent company Orion Cable.

Primacom CEO Michael Buhl told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper that a merger takeover by Primacom (a publicly-listed company) of Tele Columbus (of which Buhl has also been CEO since the recent departure of Markus Schmid) was likely.

A merger of the pair would create an operator that provides cable services to three million households, mostly in eastern Germany, and would realise synergies of about €15m annually, according to Buhl. However, any deal will depend on the cooperation of the operators’ existing investors.