M&A

12 November, 2009

TDC CFO declines to comment on stock offer talk

COPENHAGEN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Danish telecommunications operator TDC's (TDC.CO) chief financial officer declined to say on Thursday whether the company was ready for a public stock offering.

"I really have no comment on the rumours," CFO Jesper Ovesen told a conference call when asked whether a public offering would be appropriate for the business.

"Is TDC IPO ready? I don't know. We have good markets compared to peers," he said.

TDC's stock trades on the bourse but it is 88-percent owned by private equity firms Blackstone (BX.N), KKR [KKR.UL], Permira [PERM.UL], Apax and Providence Equity Partners following what was Europe's largest leveraged buyout in 2006.

The buyout firms, which own TDC through a partnership called Nordic Telephone Company (NTC), would meet banks this month looking to line up advisers to offload part of their $7.4-billion TDC stake, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. [ID:nLB640973] [ID:nLC491640]

(Editing by David Cowell)

Source: http://www.reuters.com