Apax-led consortium on the verge of TDC buy-out

Danish telco TDC was last night on the verge of accepting a USD11.5 billion takeover bid from a consortium of five UK/USA-based investment groups, in what would be one of the world’s largest ever leveraged buy-outs (LBO). The consortium, consisting of Apax, Permira, Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Providence, earlier this month made an offer for TDC at a price thought to be around DKK75 billion (USD11.9 billion). Taking into account third quarter net debt of DKK21.1 billion, TDC’s enterprise value reaches USD15 billion, making the deal larger than the recent LBO of Wind, which valued the Italian group at EUR12.1 billion (USD14.2 billion) including debt. The Apax team is thought to have secured financial backing from Barclays Capital, CSFB, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Scotland. A rival consortium, comprising BC Partners and Cinven of the UK and Apollo and Silver Lake of the US, has signaled its intent to submit its own offer for TDC, but it was unclear last night whether it would proceed. The possibility of a bid from Swiss telco Swisscom disappeared over the weekend after its majority shareholder, the Swiss government, said it would veto any foreign takeover moves by the group.