France Telecom targets Cable & Wireless in £4bn takeover bid

TELECOM giant Cable & Wireless is the target of a £4 billion (€5.96bn) takeover bid being prepared by France Telecom, it was reported yesterday.

The move is designed to consolidate the French group’s interests in Britain, which include mobile phone operator Orange.

A 22% rise in C&W shares since the beginning of May suggests investors are expecting a bid and it is thought chairman Richard Lapthorne would welcome an offer at the right price.

France Telecom is the second-largest telecoms group in Europe and owns broadband business Wanadoo as well as Orange. It is 41% owned by the French state.

The takeover plan is understood to be the brainchild of France Telecom finance chief Michel Combes, who wants to merge C&W’s internet business Bulldog with Wanadoo.

A tie-up would also give Equant - the French group’s corporate telecoms provider - access to C&W’s multinational customers and more profitable areas of the market.

C&W, which employs more than 200 people in Ireland, has overhauled its operations in recent years, pulling out of the US market and heavily restructuring its British business at a cost of thousands of jobs.