The sale of Polish mobile operator Polkomtel may face delay as shareholders struggle to agree on whether the company should be listed, sold through an auction or not sold at all, Dow Jones reports quoting people familiar with the situation.
The sale of…
The sale of Polish mobile operator Polkomtel may face delay as shareholders struggle to agree on whether the company should be listed, sold through an auction or not sold at all, Dow Jones reports quoting people familiar with the situation.
The sale of the operator was expected to kick off this autumn. The Financial Times reported earlier this week that a Blackstone/TPG consortium, Apax and CVC were eyeing the mobile operator. Turkcell and Netherlands’ KPN are also reportedly looking at a transaction.
Previous reports suggested that Polkomtel could be worth about E4bn and according to the Financial Times, the Blackstone/TPG consortium was drawing up a bid for Polkomtel valuing it at some 6x EBITDA (US$883m, as of last year).
Polkomtel, Orange and T-Mobile are the three largest mobile operators in the country, while the fourth operator, P4, struggle to find a place on the market.
Polkomtel is owned by KGHM, PKN Orlen and Vodafone (24.39% each), while PGE holds 21.85% and Weglokoks 4.98%. Earlier this year, the Polish owners said they were looking to make a joint sale of their combined 75.61% stake in the mobile operator, ideally to a trade buyer. Vodafone has also been reported to be willing to sell its minority stake.
PGE is advised by ING, while PKN Orlen is advised by Nomura and KGHM is reportedly advised by Rothschild.
The shareholders were not immediately available for comments.
