RCN, the cable operator, said on Friday that it has agreed to sell itself to the private equity firm ABRY Partners for $1.2 billion, including debt, as the leveraged buyout industry continues to get back to business.

ABRY, a media and telecom specialist based in Boston, will pay $15 a share in cash, a 22 percent premium over Thursday’s closing price.

Private equity firms have been more active this year as they finally put their billions of dollars in untapped funds to use. Earlier this week, Bain Capital agreed to pay $1.63 billion to acquire a unit of Dow Chemicals, and last week CKE Restaurants reached an accord to sell itself to THL Partners for $928 million.
One of the main enablers for the upswing in private equity activity has been the opening up of the credit markets and the willingness of banks to lend to riskier transactions again. ABRY said that it has lined up financing from SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, General Electric’s GE Capital and Societe Generale, among other firms.

Shares in RCN, which provides cable TV and broadband services in the Washington, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston and Chicago areas, have risen about 185 percent over the past 12 months ended Thursday.