Rumours of a sale of Sunrise have resurfaced after a report suggested the Swiss mobile operator’s private equity owner CVC Capital Partners has resumed the exit process it suspended at the end of 2013.
However, a source close to the situation played…
Rumours of a sale of Sunrise have resurfaced after a report suggested the Swiss mobile operator’s private equity owner CVC Capital Partners has resumed the exit process it suspended at the end of 2013.
However, a source close to the situation played down the Reuters report and implied that the suggestion of a specific process was incorrect, although the operator would be sold eventually.
CVC bought Sunrise in 2010 from Danish telco TDC for US$3.2bn and Reuters estimated a potential sale price for the business now of US$5.2bn, based on the 8x EBITDA multiple its larger rival Swisscom trades at.
In its most recent results, Sunrise reported US$1bn in revenue for the first half of the year and recorded EBITDA of US$168m for Q2, which the telco said was a 5.7% increase on the same period in 2013.
Sunrise is the second-largest mobile operator in Switzerland.
Earlier this year it was linked to a merger with rival Orange, which would take the country’s mobile market down from three operators to two. Swiss publication Handelszeitung reported that a tie-up could be possible because the market environment had improved since cableco UPC Cablecom launched an MVNO earlier this year.
Sunrise is headquartered in Zurich and also offers fixed-line telephone, broadband and digital TV services.
