MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. may be trying to unload its flagging Portuguese subsidiary Cabovisao.
According to a report by telecommunications market research and consulting firm TeleGeography, Cogeco is shopping the cableco to various Portuguese and international telecom operators and private equity funds.
A Cogeco spokesperson at the company’s Montreal headquarters declined to confirm the report, noting in an email to Cartt.ca that it is the company’s policy not to comment on rumours.
But a second report by TeleGeography quoted officials at Portugal Telecom and Optimus during the Congress of the Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications, who declined interest in buying Cabovisao, noting that their respective strategies centred on organic growth, rather than consolidation.
Cabovisao has struggled under Portugal’s debt crisis, and Cogeco wrote off its investment in its third quarter earlier this year amid a net loss of more than $56 million.
Cogeco acquired Cabovisao in 2006 from fellow Canadian operator Cable Satisfaction International Inc. for $658 million.
– Lesley Hunter
