Friday, November 18, 2005

Fri - TDC now officially in play

TDC has received a firm offer from a buy-out consortium that values Denmark's leading telecoms group at more than $11.5 bn. This also marks the formal kick-off for the bidding war over TDC.

The bidders should include two buy-out groups. There is the Apax led team that have made the offer and all the running so far, but hot on their heals are a rival buy-out group comprising Apollo, BC Partners, Cinven and Silver Lake.

The wild card could be Swisscom. Either way, it looks as though TDC will soon have new owners and the European telco consolidation process takes another step forward. After all, if the buy-out groups triumph they will presumably use TDC as a vehicle to become a consolidator itself in the European market or ensure that it swiftly becomes a target.

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