2nd UPDATE: TDC Confirms Sunrise Sale To CVC For CHF3.3 Billion
September 17 2010 - 4:45AM
Dow Jones News
Danish telecommunications provider TDC A/S (TLD) said Friday it
has sold Swiss unit Sunrise Communications AG, Switzerlands's
second-biggest operator after Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX), to private
equity firm CVC Capital Partners for CHF3.3 billion ($3.25
billion), leading it to cut its full-year guidance.
The Wall Street Journal Thursday reported that a deal was likely
as early as Friday, with CVC paying for the acquisition with
roughly one-third of its own cash and two-thirds borrowed funds.
CVC is paying a relatively modest multiple of six times recent
earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or
Ebitda, for Sunrise, which has little or no debt.
TDC said it expects to post a DKK650 million gain after tax from
the sale, with the transaction expected to close in the fourth
quarter, subject to regulatory clearance. With the sale, TDC
lowered its full-year guidance and now expects revenue in line with
2009, and Ebitda growth of 2%. Previously, full-year revenue was
expected to grow 1%-3% and Ebitda 3%-4% compared with last year,
the company said.
TDC Chief Executive Henrik Poulsen said the Sunrise divestment
is a natural next step in the company's strategy in focusing TDC as
a Nordic communications company. The deal marks TDC's exit from the
Swiss market.
CVC Capital Partners wasn't immediately available to
comment.
Last year TDC, which held Sunrise for nearly ten years, and
France Telecom (FTE) attempted to merge their Swiss operations but
the move ultimately failed due to regulatory opposition.
TDC provides fixed-line and mobile phone services, Internet and
TV to both residential and business customers in Denmark and the
Nordic region.
The company, which is owned by private equity firms Blackstone
Group, Permira, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., Providence and
Apax Partners, has been carrying out a strategic review with a raft
of banks for several months, with a public listing previously seen
as the most likely option. That prospect looked to be derailed by
the failure of the Swiss merger, however. It wasn't immediately
clear whether the Sunrise sale would rekindle the IPO process.
The private equity firms bought TDC in 2005 for around $15
billion, and about 12% of its shares are still quoted on the
Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
In early trade Friday, TDC shares rose 5.9%, or DKK2.46 to
DKK44.45 in Copenhagen.
Deutsche Bank (DB) and BNP Paribas (BNP.FR) acted as advisors to
CVC Capital Partners, while Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS) acted
as advisors to TDC.
-By Jens Hansegard, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3095;
jens.hansegard@dowjones.com
(Dana Cimilluca contributed to this article.)
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