Apax Said to Hire Banks to Arrange Orange Switzerland LBO Debt
Apax Partners LLP hired six banks to arrange more than 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) of leveraged financing for its buyout of France Telecom SA (FTE)’s Orange Switzerland mobile-phone unit, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.
Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and UBS AG are arranging the funding, which will be made up of loans and bonds, said the people, who declined to be identified because the deal is private.
Ben Harding, a spokesman for Apax in London, wouldn’t comment on the arrangements.
Apax agreed to buy Orange Switzerland for 1.6 billion euros ($2 billion), France Telecom said in a statement on Dec. 23.
The deal values Orange Switzerland, which had revenue of 1.3 billion Swiss francs last year, at 6.5 times its estimated 2011 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to France Telecom. That compares with a median Ebitda multiple of 5.6 paid for Western European telecommunications assets in the last three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Kuo in London at pkuo2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Faris Khan at fkhan33@bloomberg.net; Paul Armstrong at Parmstrong10@bloomberg.net
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