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Carphone and NTL facing private equity bids?

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Author: WildC@rd

Private equity firms are rumoured to be circling both mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse and uber-ISP NTL. According to a report in the Times, NTL is in the cross-hairs of an unnamed private equity outfit willing to pay Ј10bn for the ISP, which merged with rival Telewest earlier this year. Since that deal the company's performance has been lacklustre, with the latest set of quarterly results showing nearly 20,000 customers ditching NTL's services. The company's share price has also tumbled by some 20 per cent since the merger. One industry expert said of the potential buyout: "Private equity can only move in to buy something if the market gives it its realistic valuation… If a major asset rich company has a drop in value it's not a surprise private equity should take an interest." However, the combined company is still the UK's biggest ISP with over two million customers - which may be why private equity firm are eyeing it, according to Ian Fogg, analyst at JupiterResearch. "When you look at the potential buyer, they want to go in and buy an asset they can then improve. There's a tremendous management job to be done [at NTL] - they would have to take three different organisations with three different products and push them forward. They think they have the expertise to do that."
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