Providence reaps 2.5x on cable exit

Providence Equity Partners, which has been involved in a flurry of activity in past weeks, will make 2.5x its invested capital on the sale of Bresnan Communications to Cablevision for a total value of $1.4 billion.

Providence led an investor group that included Quadrangle Capital Partners in the initial $525 million investment in Bresnan in 2003. At the time, Bresnan also bought cable television systems serving 314,000 subscribers from Comcast. Qudrangle continues to own a stake in the company, according to a source.

Cablevision will make the acquisition using debt of about $1 billion, and an equity investment of less than $400 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi provided commitments for debt financing.

The deal is expected to close in late 2010 or early 2011.

Providence early this month agreed to buy corporate investigations company Kroll for $1.13 billion in an all-cash deal from Marsh & McLennan. In May, the firm agreed to acquire Virtual Radiologic, a radiology practice, in a deal valued at $294 million.