UK enterprise facing telco Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) is reportedly looking to hire banks to find a buyer for its SME-serving unit Thus.
Such a sale could generate around £75m, which would help the group sweeten its offer for local ISP 2e2,…
UK enterprise facing telco Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) is reportedly looking to hire banks to find a buyer for its SME-serving unit Thus.
Such a sale could generate around £75m, which would help the group sweeten its offer for local ISP 2e2, reported the Sunday Times.
A CWW spokesman declined to comment on whether his company was looking to sell Thus or acquire 2e2.
But this isn’t the first time The Sunday Times has suggested CWW was set to sell Thus. Back in July 2009 it claimed that CWW had mandated Rothschild to sell the firm, which was acquired just a year earlier for a reported £360m in total.
Meanwhile, CWW has denied separate reports that its international business is about to be taken over.
“The Board has considered and rejected that approach,” the company said in a statement on 21 June, following reports that Pacnet, a telco based in Hong Kong and Singapore, had put forward an informal US$500m bid for its overseas businesses.
Reports last month suggest CWW has placed an informal £360m bid for 2e2, which is owned by PE firms Duke Street Capital and Hutton Collins, as part of plans to broaden its offering to existing customers.
This reported deal is being billed as one based on 2e2’s presence in the cloud, a stated area of interest for CWW, which has recently issued a profit warning due to decreased government spending.
Duke Street acquired 2e2 in 2006 for £130m, in a secondary buyout from Gresham Private Equity. Hutton Collins made a £85m preferred equity investment in the group in June 2010.
According to 2e2’s website, its banks are RBC, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays; turnover is £430m, and staff numbers 2,500. According to Duke Street, revenue is £202m.
