KPN subsidiary Base attracts interest of John Malone and Patrick Drahi
Both John Malone, the American media giant and chairman of Liberty Global, and Patrick Drahi, a French media magnate and founder of Altice, are interested in acquiring KPN's Belgian subsidiary Base, the Financieele Telegraaf reported.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said that both Malone and Drahi are currently in talks with JP Morgan, the American investment bank discussing the matter.
Although Base is not officially up for sale, KPN is believed to be interested in selling its subsidiary, the report said, citing Marc Hesselink, an ABN Amro analyst.
Base reported a 2014 turnover of EUR 711m and profit of EUR 126m, results KPN believes are 21% too low.
Base was already put up for sale in 2012 with an asking price of around EUR 1.6-1.8bn, but KPN did not receive bids within this price range.
Altice is only operative in Belgium through its subsidiary Numéricable. It is therefore likely that if Altice decides to acquire Base, this deal will only go through after having acquired Voo, a Belgian government-owned Walloon cable provider.
According to a previous report from this news service, KPN aims to raise around EUR 1bn when selling Base, lower than the 2012 asking price.
None of the parties involved were in a position to comment on the matter, the report said.
Source De Financieele Telegraaf