By An initial public offering would be a further sign of how European cable operators are flourishing and attracting investor interest. Dutch cable group Ziggo (>> ZIGGO) saw strong demand for its listing last year.
Improving stock markets have already encouraged a string of companies to go public this year, with the amount raised by volume of new listings in Europe up 49 percent on the same period last year.
Numericable and one of its owners Altice were not immediately available for comment. Other owners Carlyle and Cinven declined to comment.
The funds have invited about 10 banks to pitch in May and will likely retain three of them to work on an initial public offering, the sources said.
"This is one the options currently on the table", said one of the sources who asked not to be named because the talks are private.
Another option is a merger with French mobile player SFR, which Numericable's owners believe would create significant cost savings, the sources said.
However, this scenario is less likely since SFR's owner Vivendi (>> VIVENDI) decided in a December board meeting the timing was wrong to exit SFR. The decision was driven by Vivendi's new largest shareholder Vincent Bollore, who took 5 percent of the company last year.
SFR's profit fell after the arrival of low-cost mobile rival Free in the French market last year.
Numericable is the only cable operator in France, and it covers roughly one-third of households, offering packages of pay-TV, Internet and fixed calls starting at 24.90 euros a month.
It also has a unit called Completel, which sells high-speed broadband to corporate clients.
Including Completel, Numericable could be worth 4-5 billion euros based on 8 times 2011 602 millions euros EBITDA.
(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris and Kylie MacLeellan in London; Editing by Alexander Smith and Louise Heavens)
By Sophie Sassard
