TDC targets Q4 IPO?

According to a report by Reuters, which cites investment bankers close to the matter, Danish telecoms operator TDC could move forward with revived plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the fourth quarter of the year, after the company sold its Swiss mobile unit Sunrise last month. ‘Work on the TDC process is ongoing and could aim at the fourth quarter after the sale of Sunrise,’ a source close to TDC’s strategic review commented. Plans to launch a share offering were delayed earlier in the year, after authorities in Switzerland halted the merger of Sunrise with France Telecom’s (FT’s) local unit Orange in April 2010. However, the CHF3.3 billion (USD3.27 billion) sale of Sunrise to CVC Capital Partners, announced on 17 September, was the final stretch in TDC’s streamlining to focus on its Nordic operations, and was widely seen in the financial market as preparation by TDC’s controlling shareholders for a floatation. 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. Although the firms have not yet fully decided on a complete exit from TDC, full stock market floatation is considered the most likely option.