TDC prepares list of advisers for IPO

Denmark’s incumbent fixed line operator TDC is finalising a line-up of advisers ahead of an initial public offering (IPO) which could be worth up to USD9 billion, Dow Jones reports citing people familiar with the matter. The Danish operator is adopting a twin-track process to selecting advisers for the IPO and is close to mandating the banks to arrange the share sale, according to the sources. Local investment banks Danske Bank, Nordea Bank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken are currently expected to handle Nordic stock placing of TDC, while a group of international banks, including JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, UBS and Goldman Sachs, has been short-listed, but it remains unclear whether any of these banks have been mandated. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, TDC was acquired by Nordic Telephone Company (NTC) – a private equity consortium including Apax Partners, Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Permira and Providence Equity Partners – in December 2005 in a EUR13 billion (USD17.8 billion) leveraged buy-out deal. In a bid to simplify the group structure and to optimise TDC’s capital structure, the telco merged with NTC in late 2009. Although the firms have not yet fully decided on a complete exit from TDC, a full stock market floatation is considered the most likely option and could take place as early as the second quarter of 2010.