Two private equity consortia are speeding up efforts to drum up funds for a £10bn buyout of UK mobile operator EE.
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the Financial Times wrote that Apax and KKR have teamed up, while Blackstone and CVC have…
Two private equity consortia are speeding up efforts to drum up funds for a £10bn buyout of UK mobile operator EE.
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the Financial Times wrote that Apax and KKR have teamed up, while Blackstone and CVC have formed a competing group.
Recently it emerged that EE’s owners, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, are in the process of hiring banks to advise on the float of EE, expected to happen later this year. The owners had first announced plans for an IPO of the joint venture in autumn last year.
According to today’s report the buyout firms are considering a £10bn leveraged buyout. Such a transaction would be one of the largest LBOs in years, and would follow the recently announced US$24bn LBO of US PC manufacturer Dell.
For the acquisition of EE, the PE firms are looking at raising £7bn in debt, while contributing £3bn from their own funds. The debt could be raised in the form of US high-yield notes, and talks with banks are reportedly at an advanced stage.
