As part of the strategy to optimize its asset portfolio, France Telecom is selling its Swiss unit, Orange Switzerland, to Apax Partners for 2 billion CHF ($2.14 billion), which corresponds to a multiple of 6.5x of the company’s estimated 2011 EBITDA.
The transaction is still a subject to the approval of the Swiss authorities and will be submitted to the France Telecom’s Board of Directors for approval during the week commencing on January 9, 2012.
Orange Switzerland was established in 1999 and has posted revenue of 1.3 billion CHF (1.1 billion EUR) in 2010. It had 1.6 million customers at the end of September 2011, and employs some 1,200 people.
Now I expect that 2012 be an even bigger year for mobile market consolidation in Europe with smaller players being acquired by their bigger rivals all around the continent. Needless to say, we’ll be there to cover it all…
[Via: CellularNews]