Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., reportedly has BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE), the owner of Bell Canada, in its sights.
A deal for the telecom company would be worth about CAD$30 billion (over USD$25 billion), making it the largest acquisition in Canadian history and one of the largest buyouts ever, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. KKR is looking for Canadian partners such as the Ontario Teachers' Fund since foreign firms are prohibited from owning more than 46% of a telecom company's voting shares.
Shares of BCE were up 12% pre-market trading. They have dropped about 4% this year.
KKR already has its hands full:
The New York-based buyout firm is part of the $45 billion TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU) deal, the largest buyout ever. KKR also is among the companies in the hunt for Australian retailer Coles Group Ltd. Last month, it agreed to buy Dollar General Stores Corp. (NYSE: DG).
Apparently, there's no limit to the number of multi-billion acquisitions that KKR can juggle at the same time.
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