UPC, the European cable TV arm of John Malone's Liberty Global, will battle private equity funds Permira and Cinven for Poland's No.3 cable TV provider Multimedia, valued at some 800 million euros, sources close to the talks said.

"Cinven, Permira and Liberty Global were shortlisted for the second round. It was quite competitve," a person close to one of the bidders said.

He added Multimedia owners - co-chairmen Tomek Ulatowski and Ygal Ozechov, who delisted the group last year - would decide by early September whether to hold further talks with one or more of the bidders.

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