Private equity consortium evaluates options for TDC ahead of share sale

The Nordic Telephone Company, which is controlled by Apax Partners, Blackstone, KKR, Permira and Providence Equity Partners, owns 87.9 per cent of the company. The conglomerate bought TDC for $3bn in cash and $12bn in debt in 2006, one of Europe’s biggest ever leveraged buy-outs.

Since then, TDC has reportedly cut its debt by half by cutting jobs and selling assets, including Polish mobile services provider Polkomtel and its Hungarian phone and cable unit.

According to the Financial Times, industry opinion is that private equity firms may struggle to float large companies at attractive prices, as large portions of the proceeds may be needed to reduce the large debt burdens at many of their portfolio companies.

A recent study by US ratings and analysis firm Moody’s found that many of the flagship megadeals that were carried out at the height of the private equity boom are performing worse than similarly-sized companies that were not acquired by private equity firms.

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