Pan-European cableco Liberty Global is also in the race to acquire Spanish cable operator Ono, challenging Vodafone Group whose interest was reported yesterday.
Liberty, which does not currently have a presence in Spain, is in discussion with Ono’s…
Pan-European cableco Liberty Global is also in the race to acquire Spanish cable operator Ono, challenging Vodafone Group whose interest was reported yesterday.
Liberty, which does not currently have a presence in Spain, is in discussion with Ono’s private equity owners, people with knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times.
Ono is in the midst of preparing for an IPO, with Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan both mooted as potential advisers on the sale.
Whether it proceeds with the listing will be based upon how Ono’s owners feel potential proposals from Vodafone and Liberty stack up against the valuation they could get from an IPO, the report said.
Vodafone could offer US$11.6bn for the Madrid-based operator, according to The Times. A Spanish strategist has previously been quoted as valuing Ono at US$8.8bn, based upon an 8.5x multiple of its 2012 EBITDA.
Ono describes itself as the leading alternative provider of fixed telecommunications in Spain. It also operates an MVNO.
In 2012 the company generated revenues of €1.5bn, EBITDA of €752m and a net profit of €52m. In its Q3 results it reported net debts of €3.33bn.
The cableco is owned by a number of investment firms including Providence Equity Partners, Thomas H. Lee, CCMP and Quadrangle. Representatives of Providence and Thomas H. Lee declined to comment on the reports, as did a Liberty spokesperson.
Liberty and Vodafone appear to be in a race with one another to snap up European cable assets. On Monday Liberty agreed to take over Dutch operator Ziggo.
In the second half of last year, Vodafone bought Kabel Deutschland, and is now scouring Europe for more cable targets in markets where it operates mobile services. Its sale of a minority stake in Verizon Wireless is set to complete next month, which leaves the operator with a sizeable war chest to spend on acquisitions.
Liberty Global has even been mentioned as an acquisition target for Vodafone, although a merger could raise antitrust questions in markets such as Germany.
