European mobile: Straws in the Wind

Will the auction of Wind underwrite valuations in the mobile sector? Europe’s wireless carriers would like to think so – especially those that are third-placed players in their markets, as Wind is in Italy. They include France’s Bouygues Telecom, Spain’s Auna and Britain’s O2, which owns the third-placed operator in Germany. Enel, the utility that owns Wind, has reportedly extracted near-E12bn offers for it from two private equity-backed groups. These value the enterprise at 7.2-7.5 times the eb...