Private equity firms Blackstone and KKR have reportedly rejected pitches by a former telecoms executive to buy Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA. Sol Trujillo, an American businessman who has been CEO of France Telecom’s Orange and Australian…
Private equity firms Blackstone and KKR have reportedly rejected pitches by a former telecoms executive to buy Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA.
Sol Trujillo, an American businessman who has been CEO of France Telecom’s Orange and Australian incumbent Telstra, is trying to find partners for a leverage buyout of the US asset, reported Bloomberg citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Deutsche Telekom’s board has not discussed plans to sell T-Mobile USA to private equity, added the report.
The German incumbent, Blackstone and KKR were unable to comment on the speculation.
A US$39bn plan to sell T-Mobile USA to local giant AT&T fell apart in December, when regulators effectively blocked the deal because of competition concerns. Since then, Deutsche Telekom has been eyeing cost saving measures as it comes under increasing pressure in the US.
T-Mobile USA generated total service revenues of US$4.4bn in the second quarter of 2012 compared to US$4.4bn in Q1/2012 and US$4.6bn in Q2/2011, a decrease of 5.2% year-on-year.
According to Bloomberg, Trujillo has also sought private equity interest for a takeover of T-Mobile USA’s local rival Sprint Nextel.
