Posted: 16th Jan, 2007 By: MarkJ
Pipex's chairman, Peter Dubens, has begun a review of the business, sparking speculation in '
The Times' that the ISP could be gearing up for a possible £400m sale:
Pipex, one of Britains first internet service providers, is thought to have held talks with BT last year. It is also regarded as a likely target for players including BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse, Europes biggest mobile phone retailer, as they seek to scale up their broadband customer bases.
However, Mr Dubens said that
Pipex, which will today publish a full-year trading update, is not in talks with anyone at present.
City sources believe that
Pipex, whose brands include Freedom 2 Surf, may look to divest of parts of the business, such as its internet hosting division, making it easier for interested parties to snap up its consumer and small business broadband customer base.
Pipex has itself been busy acquiring ISPs over the past few years, with the likes of Freedom2Surf,
Nildram and HomeCall already firmly embedded under its wings.