KKR said to be pursuing BCE, BCE issues denial

Posted Mar 29th 2007 11:20AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Private Equity

BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE), better known as Bell Canada, supposedly held discussions to be taken private by KKR during the past few weeks, as we previously blogged about here. The report from Globe and Mail said KKR might pay a 20% premium, in Canadian dollars, to current market trading.

BCE issued a statement addressing the speculation, saying there have been no ongoing discussions with any private equity investor to privatize the company. The company added that it has no intention to pursue such talks.

If the talks did happen, KKR would likely have to come to the table with a nice offer to get regulators and Canadian shareholders to approve this deal.

BCE has been working hard to appease shareholders by getting rid of non-core assets to gain investor interest. Despite their efforts, the stock has remained in a tight trading range between $25 and $30. So, if KKR comes with a good enough offer, will they really stand by their statement?

Tags: bce, bell canada, BellCanada, globe and mail, GlobeAndMail, kkr, private equity, PrivateEquity