BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE), the big Canadian phone company, is being bought out by the Teachers Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners Inc., and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC. Private equity comes to Canada. The price was over $48 billion.
The price is virtually no premium to the current value. The stock trades at $38. The rationale for this is that BCE's shares have risen about 40% since rumors about a buyout began to circulate in the spring. According to the company's PR statement: "The transaction values BCE at 7.8 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2007."
This is just the kind of transaction that institutional shareholders hate. And, it's probable that the purchase will be challenged by large mutual funds and pensions that own shares. The argument that the buyers make is that it's not their fault that rumors sent the share price up. The shareholders argue that there should be a premium to the current price regardless of what caused the shares to trade where they are.
Assume that this deal is not done yet.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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