BCE Denies Takeover Rumours
Posted March 29, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BCE Inc. is denying rumours of a possible U.S. takeover.
The company issued a statement Thursday, in the wake of a published report suggesting New York private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) was pondering buying the company out, to insist that no such deal was in the works.
In accordance with company policy not to comment on market rumours, it offered no further details.
The rumoured takeover would have been one of the biggest deals in Canadian corporate history.
The published report suggested KKR executives had met with BCE officials, including CEO Michael Sabia, at least twice in the past year – once in late 2006 and another in the past couple of weeks to discuss a potential deal.
The current value of BCE is about $24.3 billion.
Any such purchase would have relied on Canadian partners – since federal laws bar foreign companies from owning more than 46 per cent of shares in a telecommunications company.
KKR has a history of Canadian wheelings and dealings, including the 2002 sale of BCE’s Yellow Pages for $3 billion, and a $2.6 billion deal for Shoppers Drug Mart, which was subsequently taken public.
