France Telecom Says Private Equity Interested in U.K. Unit

 France Telecom SA has received interest from private-equity firms seeking a minority stake in its 50-50 U.K. venture with Deutsche Telekom AG, Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard said. The largest French phone company hasn’t made a decision on the future of the business, recently renamed EE, and could instead go for an initial public offering of its shares, Richard said yesterday in an interview at an industry conference in Montpellier, France.

 “We want to keep control of the asset, and so do the Germans,” Richard said. “That said, there is a possibility that we can give ourselves some financial headroom by opening EE’s capital to a minority shareholder or through an IPO, but we haven’t yet decided.” France Telecom jumped as much as 2.4 percent from its intraday level yesterday after Richard’s comments.

A stake sale in the unit would help France Telecom bolster its finances as intensifying rivalry at home and Europe’s slowing economy hurt earnings. Its debt rating was lowered for the first time in a decade last month and the carrier cut its dividend to keep borrowings under control. EE may be valued at 7 billion pounds ($11 billion) to 7.7 billion pounds, based on a multiple of 5 to 5.5 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to Stephane Beyazian, an analyst at Raymond James Euro Equities.

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