A private equity consortium has approached UK cable company NTL about a potential £10 billion (€14.8 billion) takeover, but there are no serious talks under way, sources close to the deal said yesterday.

The approach, which if successful would be the largest ever European leveraged buyout, is being led by US buyout firm Providence Equity and includes US firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Blackstone Group as well as Britain's Cinven.

"It's still in the early stages," one of the sources said.

Another of the sources said there were no structured talks scheduled and that no formal process had started.

"Even assuming the private equity guys come with a serious offer, this would take time. It's not going to happen overnight," the source said.

NTL, KKR, Blackstone and Providence declined to comment. Cinven was not immediately available.

The cash-rich private equity firms have been circling NTL for months and approached the company last year before it closed its $6 billion acquisition of smaller UK cable firm Telewest. NTL Ireland is not part of the business and is owned by Liberty Global.

NTL shares were up 0.64 per cent at $26.72 on Nasdaq after climbing nearly 9 per cent on Wednesday.