Providence Equity Partners, The Carlyle Group and GMT Communications Partners Complete Acquisition of Casema for € 665 million

Paris, France - Providence Equity Partners Inc. and The Carlyle Group today announced that they and GMT Communications Partners have completed the acquisition of Casema, the third largest cable television operator in the Netherlands, from France Telecom for € 665 million in cash.

Providence Equity and Carlyle each acquired 46% ownership of Casema, with GMT owning the remaining 8%. Providence Equity and Carlyle will appoint a majority of the Company's Supervisory Board.

"This acquisition underscores our commitment to the European media and communications sectors and, in particular, to acquiring and further developing strong European cable businesses," said John Hahn, a London-based managing director at Providence Equity Partners. "With 1.3 million subscribers and over 90% penetration of households, Casema has a superb franchise, an established revenue base and excellent growth prospects. We look forward to working with the Company's management and employees to further strengthen its market position as a leading provider of high-quality broadband cable services."

Benoit Colas, a director of The Carlyle Group in Paris, said: "We are very proud to be the owners of such a high quality cable company in a country where cable is becoming the leading technology platform for the delivery of multimedia content and services."

Terrence Tehranian, partner at GMT in London, said: "We are delighted to have completed GMT's fifth and largest cable TV investment in Europe in what is evidently a premium quality cable company. We are looking forward to working with our experienced syndicate members."

Financing for the transaction was provided by a group of banks including ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Credit Lyonnais, ING, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale, and WestLB. Advisors to the investor group were NM Rothschild, Allen & Overy and Deloitte & Touche.