Iliad’s Niel, Goldman Sachs Said to Team on Orange Swiss Bid

Iliad SA’s billionaire founder Xavier Niel teamed up with Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s private-equity unit to bid for France Telecom SA’s Swiss mobile-phone unit, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The 50-50 joint offer for Orange Suisse is being made through one of Niel’s personal holding companies, rather than Iliad, the broadband provider in which he is the majority shareholder, the person said, declining to be identified because the talks are private. The Swiss unit could fetch about 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said last month.