Two private equity buyers, Warburg Pincus and Apollo, are still in the running for T-Mobile Netherlands, with final bids reportedly due on Monday.
Two private equity buyers, Warburg Pincus and Apollo, are still in the running for T-Mobile Netherlands, with final bids reportedly due on Monday.
Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA), in the meantime, is in talks about a Dutch fixed/mobile combination with Vodafone (LSE:VOD), while private equity firms CVC and Apax have also dropped out of the race, reports Reuters.
The suitors could reportedly make bids valuing the Deutsche Telekom (ETR:DT) owned mobile-only business at some €3bn (US$3.4bn). The German seller, which had reportedly set a price tag of €3.6bn (US$4bn) or 8x the unit’s €450m (US$506m) EBITDA, could decide to maintain ownership of the business if bids are not high enough.
Deutsche Telekom and Apollo declined comment, while Warburg Pincus was not available by press time.
The sale is being run by Credit Suisse.
The market is led by incumbent KPN and Vodafone, with T-Mobile as the number three player.
The market has become more competitive thanks to the entrance of low-cost 4G provider Tele2 in November 2015.