After banding together to purchase TDC, Denmark's largest telecom operator, the same group of private equity funds now is examining how it can conduct a stock-market flotation of the European telco. This group, which includes Apax, Blackstone, KKR, Permira and Providence Equity Partners, is consulting with bankers on how to list TDC on the Danish stock exchange in 2010, but no formal announcement has been made at this time.
In 2005 the group jointly purchased the Danish telco for roughly $19 billion-one of the largest buyouts of a European company ever. According to a report in the London Times, the group has been able to maintain the ongoing viability of the company with a cost reduction strategy and through new network and IT investments, including IPTV and femtocells. Though the company's revenue was off a slight 1 percent last year, TDC's revenue and net income are predicted to stay level for 2009. Floating the company's stock is not the only thing on TDC's mind. TDC also is thinking of selling off other assets: its Swiss subsidiary Sunrise and the majority stake in HTCC. Sources say that Orange could be a likely bidder for Sunrise.
For more:
- London Times has this report
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