RLPC-Primacom ends sales discussions

LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - German cable operator Primacom said it ended discussions to sell itself after its price expectations were not met.

Primacom, which is owned by its lenders after in January restructuring its debt for a second time, started sale discussions in the spring, hoping to fetch around 400 million euros ($518 million).

"The decision to enter sale discussions was made on an opportunistic basis," said Harald Stoeber, chairman of Primacom's parent company Medfort, in a statement on Friday.

"None of the offers were able to meet the strict valuation criteria that were in place. The process is now at an end and Primacom, backed by its shareholders, will continue to implement its successful growth strategy."

Deutsche Telekom, Pepcom, Unitymedia KabelBW (part of Liberty Global ) and two infrastructure funds were thought to be among interested parties.

In January, lenders and owners including ING Group and fund managers such as Alcentra Group, Tennenbaum Capital and Avenue Capital restructured Primacom's debt for a second time in two years after the company's performance came under pressure.

Lenders were forced to inject 20 million euros of new loans to back investments in the cable network to boost growth. Another roughly 330 million euros of loans were left in place, with a portion shifted to its parent company. ($1 = 0.7721 euros) (Reporting by Isabell Witt; Editing by David Holmes)