Eric Zinterhofer, the former co-head of media and telecom for Apollo Management LP who served at the center of the firm's recapitalization of cable operator Charter Communications Inc., has teamed up with two other private equity pros to launch Searchlight Capital Partners.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Zinterhofer, along with former Teachers' Private Capital senior vice president Erol Uzumeri and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s head of European communications and media, Oliver Haarmann, are general partners in Searchlight, which is currently raising money.

Zinterhofer, Uzumeri and Haarmann have each had a hand in significant private equity deals. Zinterhofer was named chairman of Charter Communications in 2009, following the bankruptcy of the fourth-­largest U.S. cable operator.

His more recent deals include the €3.5 billion ($5.2 billion) sale of German cable operator Unitymedia GmbH to John Malone's Liberty Global Inc., the $831 million sale of iPCS Inc. to Sprint Nextel Corp. and Apollo's $100 million investment in Indian satellite television operator Dish TV India Ltd.

Uzumeri ran the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's private equity arm until he stepped down in May. The investor took charge of Teachers' Private Capital in December 2007, replacing Jim Leech, who became CEO of the nearly $100 billion pension fund. He chairs the board of GCAN Insurance Co., which Teachers' Private Capital took private in 2005, and is a director of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and the Toronto Raptors basketball franchise.

Haarmann's deals at KKR include the €12.4 billion joint purchase of an 88% stake in Danish telecom TDC A/S with Blackstone Group LP, Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, Permira and Providence Equity Partners Inc. He resigned from TDC's board in June. He is a ­director of Indian wireless tower and infrastructure company Bharti Infratel Ltd. and helped develop KKR's presence in the country.