Private equity firms are reviving plans for a potential 10 billion pound ($15.7 billion) takeover of the UK's biggest mobile operator EE, encouraged by recent deals like Virgin Media and Dell. Big buyout companies including U.S.-based KKR and Europe's CVC Capital Partners are trying again to persuade banks to help fund a deal they have been unable to get off the ground for the past year, people familiar with the talks said.They hope that a recent pickup in debt and equity markets could help them broker a more attractive alternative to the stock market listing that EE's owners France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are planning to better reflect the value of their UK joint venture.Both Liberty Global 's $15.75 billion acquisition of British cable company Virgin Media and Dell 's buyout led by co-founder Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake involved a significant portion of debt funding and could provide a benchmark for private equity funds interested in EE, the people said.EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, is the biggest mobile operator in the highly competitive British market with more than 27 million customers.
France Telecom SA (France Telecom) is a France-based European mobile operator, Internet access provider, and telecommunications services provider for multinational businesses under the Orange brand. Shares of FTE fell by 0.99% or $-0.1065/share to $10.63. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $10.20 and as high as $15.87. On average, 1214620 shares of FTE exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1071011.
Liberty Global, Inc. (LGI) is an international provider of video, broadband Internet and telephony services, with broadband communications and/or direct-to-home satellite (DTH) operations, As of December 31, 2011, the Company was serving 19. Shares of LBTYA fell by 0.28% or $-0.19/share to $67.88. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $44.87 and as high as $70.65. On average, 1932920 shares of LBTYA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2098679.
Virgin Media Inc. is engaged in entertainment and communications business. Shares of VMED fell by 0.28% or $-0.13/share to $45.91. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $21.25 and as high as $46.43. On average, 5287450 shares of VMED exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 6752947.
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