MADRID, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Spanish cable company Euskaltelhas hired Rothschild as advisers to explore a potential partiallisting on the stock exchange, business daily Expansion said onSaturday, citing sources close to the firm.
Euskaltel, which is partly owned by private equity fundsTrilantic and Investindustrial and operates exclusively in theBasque country, in northern Spain, would join a growing list ofSpanish firms seeking a listing as international investors arekeen to invest in the country as its economy rebounds.
Expansion said the two funds would list at least 25 percentof the share capital of the company. They currently own 48.1percent of Euskaltel, while regional lender Kutxabank owns 49.9percent and Spanish utility Iberdrola has a remaining 2 percent.
According to preliminary estimates, the listing could valuethe company at between 400 million and 500 million euros ($455million to $569 million), the paper also said.
Euskaltel and Rothschild were not immediately available tocomment.
Euskaltel is one of three local cable players stilldominating their regional home market against national sectorleader Ono, which was acquired by Vodafone last year.
Analysts have long said they expect the three cable firms toconsolidate between themselves or with a bigger player such asOno, and that the listing of one of them could be the triggerfor a wave of mergers or acquisitions. ($1 = 0.8789 euros) (Reporting by Julien Toyer; Editing by Alison Williams)