John Malone must be smiling. The US cable magnate has picked up a bargain of sorts in Unitymedia, Germany’s second-biggest cable company. Taken private for €1.5bn in 2003, a partial flotation of Germany’s second-biggest cable-TV operator was destined to be the continent’s biggest public offering this year. Then Liberty Global – controlled by Mr Malone – swooped in with its offer, worth €3.5bn, including €1.5bn of debt.

Liberty is paying 7.4 times estimated 2010 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for Unitymedia – a figure that could fall to 6.6 times if it succeeds in extracting a hoped-for €58m of synergies. A premium to the rating enjoyed by rival European cable group Telenet, this is nonetheless a far cry from the multiples of about 12 times ebitda that media groups attracted in the go-go days, when Liberty’s ambitions to build its presence in Europe were frustrated by outsized bids from swaggering private equity firms.