Reuters: Hot Stocks: UPDATE 1-French cable operator Numericable rises in stock market debut

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UPDATE 1-French cable operator Numericable rises in stock market debut Nov 8th 2013, 08:58 Fri Nov 8, 2013 4:02am EST (Repeats, no change to text) * Initial price was 24.80 euros, at top of range * Cinven, Carlyle achieve partial exits * Raises at least 652 mln eur to repay debt, fund network upgrade By Leila Abboud PARIS, Nov 8 (Reuters) - French cable operator Numericable shares saw a modest rise of as much as 8 percent in their stock market debut on Friday, indicating the private-equity backed group had set an initial valuation that was quite full. The debut also coincided with a downgrade of France's credit rating by Standard and Poor's, which dragged the blue-chip CAC 40 index down 0.8 percent by 0838 GMT. Numericable, which offers packages of pay-TV, Internet and fixed-line calls, priced its share sale on Thursday at the top of the range - at 24.80 euros - and said its order book was ten times oversubscribed. The stock reached a high of 26.79 euros early on Friday and was trading at 26.36 euros by 0844 GMT, giving the company a market capitalisation of 3.27 billion euros ($4.38 billion). The initial public offering (IPO) is the latest example of investors' high interest in European cable companies as all-inclusive bundles of television, Internet, mobile and fixed-line calls gain in popularity. Since cable companies have been takeover targets for big telecom groups like Vodafone, investors tend to award them premium valuations. The IPO is also the biggest in France since 2009. Numericable's pitch to investors centred on its prospects of a 2 to 5 percent rise in sales a year to 2016 and pointed to its attractions as a takeover target for Vivendi's French mobile operator SFR and rival Bouygues. The IPO allowed the group to raise at least 652.2 million euros to fund investments in its broadband network and pay down debt. If the over-allotment option on the listing is fully exercised, then Numericable will raise 750 million euros. Owners Carlyle and Cinven sold down part of their stakes, while fellow shareholder Altice raised its share. Their final holdings will depend on whether the over-allotment mechanism is used. Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan are running the sale. Credit Agricole, HSBC and Morgan Stanley are joint book-runners. ($1 = 0.7472 euros) (Editing by James Regan) Link this Share this Digg this Email Print Reprints

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