The private-equity owners of TDC – Denmark’s largest telecoms firm – have confirmed that they plan to raise over US$4 billion in an almost simultaneous sale and buy-back of shares. According to the Financial Times, the share sale – which will launch on 9 December – will generate the first returns for the consortium of US and UK private-equity groups (Blackstone, Permira, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Apax Partners and Providence Equity Partners) that bought an 88 percent stake in the company for EUR13 billion in 2005 – at the time, Europe’s largest-ever leveraged buyout. TDC’s owners plan to sell 210 million shares, plus an overallotment option for a further 31.5 million shares, at a price between DKR47 and DKR56 each. The company said it was also planning to buy back DKR9 billion of shares at the same price as the share issue. The transaction values the company at around DKR65 billion (US$11.5 billion), including net debt of about DKR23 billion. According to the Financial Times, the private equity firms are set to achieve returns of 2-2.5 times their initial equity investment.
 
The move to sell equity follows TDC’s recent sale of its Swiss mobile network, Sunrise, which it sold to CVC Capital Partners for CHF3.3 billion (US$3.3 billion) in September. It had previously tried to merge the business with Orange Switzerland but had the deal blocked on anti-trust grounds. The Sunrise sale was part of a plan to focus TDC’s efforts on its core Nordic businesses, and the firm has said it could use fresh capital from the share issue to fund further acquisitions in the region’s telecoms market. TDC is the incumbent operator in Denmark and owns the country’s largest mobile operator, TDC Mobil.