TDC owners set to launch sale, buy-back of shares

The private equity owners of Danish telecoms company TDC have announced plans to raise DKK23 billion (USD4.12 billion) through the sale and buy-back of shares, the Financial Times reports. The share sale will be launched on 9 December and will generate the first returns for Nordic Telephone Company (NTC) – the private equity consortium which acquired TDC in December 2005 in a EUR13 billion (USD17.8 billion) leveraged buy-out deal. NTC, which includes Apax Partners, Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Permira and Providence Equity Partners, currently holds almost 88% of TDC’s shares. The Danish incumbent’s owners plan to sell 210 million shares, plus an overallotment option for a further 31.5 million shares, at a price range of DKK47-DKK56 per share. At the midpoint of the initial price range, the share sale would raise DKK12.4 billion. The company said it was also planning to buy back DKK9 billion of shares at the same price as the share issue. The transaction would value the company at about DKK65 billion, including net debt of about DKK23 billion. The sellers will still own about 55%-60% of TDC after the sale, the operator’s chief executive Henrik Poulsen said.