Eir has no plans to float in the short or even medium term, but CEO Richard Moat said he was sure Eir’s shareholders – led by Anchorage Capital Group, which owns almost 40% of the incumbent – would keep the situation under review.
Eir has no plans to float in the short or even medium term unless the market’s appetite for IPOs improves.
Speaking as the Irish operator unveiled its Q1 results, CEO Richard Moat said he was sure Eir’s shareholders – led by Anchorage Capital Group, which owns almost 40% of the incumbent – would keep the situation under review.
Stock markets are not proving friendly to telcos at the moment. Digicel, owned by Irish tycoon Denis O’Brien, shelved plans to list in New York just three days before its shares were set to be sold, blaming the weak stock market conditions that have forced others to list at a discount.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Helios Towers Nigeria also recently abandoned its plan to float in London, a move observers blamed on poor market conditions. The towerco is now exploring “multiple options”.
Moat has previously said that if Eir were to IPO, proceeds would be used to cut its gross debt, which stood at €2.4bn (US$2.5bn) as of September, which Moat has been quoted as saying represents around 4.5x EBITDA.
Eir pushed out the maturities of a number of its facilities in September.
In September 2014 Eir, then known as Eircom, abandoned a plans for a possible IPO as it could not convince investors of its owners’ €3bn (US$3.8bn) valuation of the group.
Alongside an IPO, Eircom’s advisers – Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Rothschild – were also sounding out potential buyers. Operators Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom, and private equity firms KKR, Apax Partners and CVC Capital Partners were all reported to have discussed potential deals, but none of those talks resulted in an offer.
In May, Anchorage bought a 25% stake in Eircom from fellow New York private equity firm Blackstone, becoming the largest shareholder.
The development came a day after Eircom disclosed that it had recently knocked back a €3.3bn non-binding takeover proposal.
In a statement at the time to the Irish Stock Exchange, Eircom said: “While the bidder was very credible, the board believed that, with the business reaching an inflection point, the indicated price range undervalued the group.”
In its latest results, Eir said it had increased its revenue by 4% on the same quarter in 2014 and boosted its EBITDA by 6%, thanks to an improvement in its postpay subscriber base.
Earlier in November, Eir was linked with a move into content. The telco was said to be in talks to buy broadcaster Setanta Sports for up to €20m (US$21m).
