EU Clears Debitel's EUR560 Million Buy Of Talkline From TDC

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The European Commission Friday cleared Debitel's EUR560 million purchase of German mobile telephone operator Talkline from Denmark's TDC.

The deal will make Debitel the fourth-largest wireless telephone operator in Germany, putting it ahead of Spanish firm Telefonica's O2 unit. Talkline has a total of 3.8 million customers and had revenues of DKK7.7 billion Danish kroner ($1.43 billion) in 2006.

TDC, Denmark's largest telecoms firm, was acquired in 2006 by a private-equity consortium of Apax Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Blackstone Group, Permira and Providence Equity Partners. Debitel was acquired by Permira and delisted from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in May 2005.

Company web site: http://www.debitel.com; http://tdc.com

-By Emma Charlton, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9307; emma.charlton@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 20th July 2007