Courting popularity

With a E13bn bid for TDC, private equity may finally end its losing streak in European telecoms auctions. Several times this year the buyout houses have been gazumped by trade buyers – notably when France Telecom outbid them for Spain’s Auna and Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian telecoms entrepreneur, paid more for Italy’s Wind. But a punchy bid comes with its own costs. The firms are not only offering the Danish telecoms operator’s shareholders a generous 39% premium compared with the stock price b...