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Two reportedly remain in race for Deutsche Telekom’s Dutch unit, but it could still choose not to sell.
There are two bidders left in the race for T-Mobile Netherlands, it emerged on Thursday: private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Apollo.
The pair are due to submit their final bids for the mobile operator on Monday, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
Those bids could be worth in excess of €3 billion the sources said.
However, they added that Deutsche Telekom might still choose to retain the asset, should it not attract an offer it deems acceptable.
Talk of Deutsche Telekom selling out of the Netherlands surfaced last year, with private equity firms being the most oft-listed potential buyers. Apax, CVC, Bain Capital and Providence have all been named in the past few months, in addition to the two named above.
They have all dropped out of the running, Reuters’ sources said.
There were also rumours that Liberty Global could make an offer, but that now seems unlikely, given that the cable group is holding talks with Vodafone over a possible merger of their respective assets in the Netherlands.
Xavier Niel’s Iliad has also featured in speculation of possible buyers, but that could simply be because the French businessman is known for having deep pockets and an acquisitive nature.
