WARSAW – Polkomtel SA, the Polish mobile phone company that’s valued at about 3.7 billion euros ($5.1 billion), will allow seven investors to begin due diligence on the company after March 21.
Among the seven shortlisted bidders seeking to buy the company are three telephone industry-linked investors and four financial companies, Krzysztof Kilian, Polkomtel’s deputy chief executive officer, told reporters in Warsaw on Friday, without naming the investors or companies involved.
According to Reuters, Apax Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Providence Equity Partners are reportedly among the private equity bidders, as well as a joint bid from TPG Capital and Blackstone.
Polkomtel’s owners, which include Vodafone Group Plc, oil refiner PKN Orlen SA, copper miner KGHM Polska Miedz SA and power utility PGE SA, are seeking to sell the company in the first half of the year.
The 2008 sale by Denmark’s TDC A/S of a 20 percent stake in Polkomtel provides the 3.7 billion-euro minimum valuation of the Polish company in the current sale, Herbert Wirth, CEO of KGHM, said in November.
TeliaSonera AB, Telenor ASA and Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, who invests in media, phone and power companies, were shortlisted for Polkomtel, Gazeta Wyborcza reported on March 5. TeliaSonera earlier said it placed an initial bid.
