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GE mulls Europe TV tie
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August 9, 1999: 8:41 a.m. ET
GE Capital, Deutsche Bank to expand cable network, bid for Telekom assets
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LONDON (CNNfn) - General Electric teamed up with Deutsche Bank Monday to prepare a joint bid for the German cable TV units being spin off by Deutsche Telekom.
If successful, the bid would mark the latest phase in the rapid European expansion of GE Capital, the U.S. conglomerate's financial services arm.
DB Investor, Deutsche Bank's investment arm, plans to form a consortium with GE Capital and a unit of HypoVereinsbank to bid for the telecom company's cable operation in three north German states.
Deutsche Telekom, the country's largest cable operator, plans to sell stakes in its nine national franchises but retain a 25.1 percent stake in each. It is seeking partners to boost investment in Internet and broadband systems.
DB Investor bought the country's second-largest cable operator, TeleColumbus, earlier this year, gaining access to 1.7 million households.
The bank already has announced plans to bid for Deutsche Telekom's franchise in southern Germany in partnership with HypoVereinsbank, Bayerische Landesbank and Viag Interkom, a joint venture between the utility conglomerate Viag (FVIA) and British Telecom (BT.A).
The north German franchise would add 1.2 million clients, with potential growth of another 700,000, the bank said.
DB Investor, which is charged with selling around $3 billion of the bank's industrial holdings, has built up portfolios in the telecom and media sectors with a view to spinning them off in stock market listings.
Deutsche Telekom Friday extended by a week the closing date for bids for the cable franchises to Aug. 20.
The financial consortium faces competition for the franchises from telecom group Mannesmann (FMMW) and Amsterdam-based United Pan-European Communications, Europe's second-largest cable operator, in which Microsoft (MSFT) has an 8 percent stake. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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