UPDATE 1-Unity Media deal looms as Europe IPO market warms

* Unity Media seeks 500 mln euros in IPO

* Pre-marketing likely in the week of Nov. 16

* Europe's IPO volume to increase to $5.5 bln

(Adds details on other IPOs)

LONDON/FRANKFURT, Nov 3 (Reuters) - German cable firm Unity Media is planning a 500 million euro ($732 million) initial public offering (IPO) in December, people familiar with the matter said, as Europe's IPO market begins to warm up.

Europe is lagging far behind Asia and the United States in IPO activity but could see a wave of deals next year, bankers said. [ID:nLM175549]

Unity Media's deal, which would follow two recent major IPOs in the region -- top Polish utility PGE's $2.2 billion offering and Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd NV's 1 billion euro ($1.5 billion) listing -- could take Europe's IPO volume this year to around $5.5 billion, according to Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO - news) data.

That would bring Europe's share of global IPO volume close to 7 percent, up from 1.8 percent in September.

Delta Lloyd shares dipped 3 percent on their first day of trading on Tuesday. Bankers and fund managers said the lacklustre debut should not to discourage flotations in Europe, blaming it on the impact of last week's ruling on rival ING by European competition chiefs. [ID:nLU568425]

"It's more to do with the sector. The ING ruling was a blow to the market," one banker said.

Bankers said the fact that Delta Lloyd's deal was two times oversubscribed on Monday despite a 25 percent fall in ING shares since last Friday showed the resilience of the IPO market.

PGE's offering was 7.5 times covered and priced at the top of an expected range. [ID:nLR677803]

With valuations of cable firms recovering Unity Media was likely to start meeting investors in the week of Nov. 16 at the earliest, and launch the IPO next month, people familiar with the matter said.

"We are ready to go in December", said one source.

Unity Media, Germany's No. 2 cable operator, is owned by private equity firms BC Partners [BCPRT.UL] and Apollo Management LP [APOLO.UL].

The company, which provides broadband internet, telephone and digital TV to customers in Germany, generated 117 million euros in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the second quarter of the year, up 13 percent from a year ago.

The management expected EBITDA to reach 410 million to 420 million euros for its cable business for the full year. ($1=.6835 Euro) (Additional reporting by Simon Meads in London and Nicola Leske in Frankfurt; Editing by David Cowell)