Xavier Niel to buy Monaco Telecom for up to $450m
French billionaire Xavier Niel is nearing a deal to personally acquire Monaco's largest telecoms company for as much as $450m from Cable and Wireless Communications, the UK-listed group.
As Daniel Thomas and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany report, the deal is in the final stages of negotiations and could be announced this week, according to two people familiar with the situation.
One person said that the acquisition would be a personal investment for Mr Niel, rather than through Iliad or Free, the telecoms businesses that he owns in France.
Another person close to the discussions added that Mr Niel had been attracted to the business given the wealthy profile of the consumer in Monaco, which is becoming haven for wealthy expats from eastern Europe as well as its traditional residents from the French elite.
Monaco Telecom, which is part owned by the principality, is the main provider of mobile, fixed line, broadband and pay TV services.
Mr Niel has been looking to buy telecoms businesses in Europe for his personal investment portfolio separated from Iliad. He teamed up with Goldman Sachs in 2011 to attempt to buy the Swiss business owned by Orange, although was eventually outbid by Apax.
For Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC), the sale will mark the final part of a wider disposal process to refocus the group on the Caribbean and Central American region.
The deal will be the first major decision to be taken by recently joined chief executive Phil Bentley, who arrived from British Gas with a mandate to take the 140-year-old business into the next stage of its development.