Posted: 18th Jul, 2005 By: MarkJ
The Guardian newspaper has posted further speculation on the prospect of Cable & Wireless's rumoured Energis takeover. It's believed that talks have just started, with a £700m deal being placed on the table:
The combined company would generate sales of more than £2bn a year, most of it from providing services to large companies.
However, C&W's chief executive, Francesco Caio, will face a tough task selling the deal to sceptical City investors. Some institutions would prefer C&W to return a large chunk of its £1bn cash pile to shareholders rather than spend £700m on Energis.
The latest results from Energis show that its sales fell to £720m in the year to March, from £745m in the same period last year.
Energis is well known for its heavy debt pile, making takeover a risk that C&W must be sure it can win. It's unclear how the move would affect ISP's linked to Energis.