CVC Capital Partners (‘CVC’) and TDC announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement for investment funds advised by CVC to acquire Sunrise Communications S.A. ('Sunrise'). The transaction, which values Sunrise at an enterprise value of CHF3.3bn, demonstrates CVC’s commitment to expand its activities in the telecommunications sector and enables Sunrise to pursue its challenger strategy on the Swiss market.
Today CVC and TDC have signed an agreement on selling TDC's Swiss subsidiary Sunrise to the private equity firm CVC. TDC held Sunrise for nearly ten years during which Sunrise invested more than 2 billion in mobile and fixed infrastructure in Switzerland. With the new owner Sunrise will be able to continue its current challenger strategy whilst maintaining its high level of investment in infrastructure and distribution.
The completion of this transaction is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2010, once approvals have been obtained from the Swiss competition and relevant regulatory authorities.
Oliver Steil, Sunrise CEO, commented on the agreement: “We are very excited about this agreement. For Sunrise the course of our future has been set today. With CVC we have the backing of a strong and long-term oriented financial partner which supports our plan to drive investment in both our network and our customer service. Sunrise remains committed to offering services that bring value-for-money and ease of use to our customers.”
Henrik Poulsen, TDC CEO said: "Sunrise has gone through a very positive development in recent years. This is reflected in the deal we have signed. We have been pleased with our engagement in Sunrise and a divestment is a natural next step in our wish to focus TDC as a Nordic communications company. I am glad we have found a strong future owner to ensure that Sunrise will continue the positive development."
Lorne Somerville, Partner at CVC, stated, “Sunrise is a strong operator in one of Europe’s most advanced telecoms markets. We are delighted to add such a high-quality business to our portfolio of European investments, and are fully supportive of the Company's strategy, investment plan and strong management team, led by Oliver Steil. We look forward to the next phase of growth for Sunrise, which will deliver best value to its customers, partners and employees."
Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas acted as M&A advisors to CVC Capital Partners, while Morgan Stanley and UBS acted as M&A advisors to TDC.