KPN shows two hunters the door | Financial

The first was from private equity giant KKR, the second from a duo, Swedish investor EQT and American infrastructure investor Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.

Speculations about an imminent takeover bid for KPN have been going on for months. In April, the Wall Street Journal reported similar sounds.

EQT and Stonepeak would have considered an offer of € 3 per share, valuing KPN at € 12.5 billion, excluding the € 5.2 billion debt on the balance sheet, the Financial Times reported. KPN disputes this: “There has been an unsolicited proposal but no offer price made by EQT and Stonepeak.”

It is not known whether KKR has made a concrete offer.

Joost Farwerck, the CEO of KPN, said in an explanation to the first quarter figures last week that any offer for KPN should be in the best interest of all stakeholders of the company.

Last weekend

The board of directors and the supervisory board of KPN have both rejected approaches last weekend, according to an involved source. The reasoning for this, KPN said in a response on Sunday, is that both approaches have no added value compared to KPN’s own growth strategy. The management board and supervisory board state that they have ‘carefully’ considered whether the rapprochement could be ‘in the best interests of the company’, including the weighing of the interests of customers, employees, creditors, suppliers, business partners, the government and society.

Since then, there has been no conversation with either party, according to KPN.

KPN invests heavily in its telecom network. Farwerck said about this that the company will create a lot of value in the long term. For example, by 2026, 80% of Dutch households must be able to be connected to the fiber optic network that KPN is currently installing in a recently announced joint venture with pension investor APG.

A Citi analyst writes in a report quoted by the FT that KPN can be valued at € 3.50 per share.

A takeover of KPN has always been seen as highly undesirable and virtually impossible by the sector, due to the critical infrastructure the company possesses. KPN also has a strong anti-trust foundation, which also helped to chase away Mexican attacker Carlos Slim in 2013 and 2014. Slim is still a minority shareholder and could play a crucial role in a takeover bid.

Since 1 May, new legislation has been introduced in the Netherlands that offers companies the option of invoking an extra 180 days of reflection in case of an unsolicited takeover bid.

In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy should agree to the acquisition of critical infrastructure.

EQT is a Swedish private equity firm and already owns a smaller telecom company in the Netherlands, Delta. Stonepeak is a New York infrastructure investor who rarely shows up in Europe. KKR is one of the oldest private equity firms

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