DUBLIN -(Dow Jones)- Telecoms entrepreneur Denis O'Brien is "clearly interested" in acquiring Meteor Communications, his Dublin-based spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
Meteor is being sold by its U.S. parent Western Wireless Corp. (WWCA) and formal bids are expected to be made to Deutsche Bank AG (DB) as early as mid-July.
"He's clearly interested," O'Brien's spokesman said, but declined to comment on speculation that O'Brien has secured the backing of Citigroup Inc. (C).
A small band of Irish telecoms rivals is circling Meteor Communications in the hope of gaining a foothold in the lucrative Irish mobile market.
Potential bidders include O'Brien's onetime main rival, former state monopoly Eircom Group PLC (EIR.DB), which wishes to re-enter the mobile market, and Smart Telecom.
Meteor has 11% of the Irish market behind Vodafone PLC (VOD) and 02 Ireland, a unit of MM02 PLC (OOM).
Meteor, which has no third-generation network, is worth an estimated EUR270 million to EUR400 million, but analysts say bidding could exceed the top end of this range.
O'Brien kickstarted his telecoms career in Ireland: he set up Esat Telecom in 1990 before selling it to BT Group PLC (BTY) in 2001 for $2.9 billion.
He has been keen to re-enter the Irish market since 2001, when his consortium lost a battle to acquire Eircom, which was bought by businessman Tony O'Reilly's group.
-By Quentin Fottrell, Dow Jones Newswires; +353-1-6762189; quentin.fottrell@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 14th June 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/13152.php