KPN: Mulls Acquisition Of Austrian Mobile Operator One

AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)- Dutch telecommunications operator Royal KPN is mulling a bid for Austrian mobile telecoms operator One, that is currently up for sale, company spokesman Stephen Hufton told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday.

One, formerly known as Connect Austria, is up for sale with a price tag of around EUR1.3 billion to EUR1.4 billion, Dow Jones Newswires reported May 10, citing an unnamed source.

One is 50% owned by German utilities group E.ON with the remainder owned by a trio of telecom operators. TDC owns a 15% stake, France Telecom holds a 17.5% stake and Telenor owns 17.5%.

"We are looking at it," Hufton said, adding that buying One would be "in line with what we said before," about expanding KPN's mobile telecoms operations to other European countries.

KPN currently operates mobile telecoms services in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Hufton declined to comment further on the bid's progress.

Dow Jones Newswires reported earlier that the auction of One had attracted a number of strategic buyers as well as private equity firms. Spain's Telefonica was mentioned, besides KPN, as a potential strategic buyer.

-By Mathijs Schiffers; Dow Jones Newswires +31-20-5890270; mathijs.schiffers@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 24th May 2007