Deutsche Telekom seeks buyers for unit

Bloomberg

Deutsche Telekom has retained JPMorgan Chase to also review options such as a possible joint venture for its T-Mobile UK unit, said the people, who declined to be identified. The unit may fetch more than the 3 billion pounds ($5 billion), the people said.

"Exiting the U.K. wouldn’t be a great loss for T-Mobile," said Joris Franssen, who helps manage about 400 million euros ($562 million) at Kempen Capital Management in Amsterdam.

Selling the U.K. unit would give Deutsche Telekom an exit from a market that has five mobile-phone operators and is more competitive than Italy with four and France with three. The unit, the U.K.’s fourth-largest, had the biggest drop in subscribers of Deutsche Telekom’s 16 wireless divisions last quarter. The company in May reported a loss after a writedown at the U.K. mobile-phone unit of 1.8 billion euros.

For Vodafone, Telefonica, France Telecom and Hutchison Whampoa, which operate mobile-phone services in the U.K., taking over or partnering with T-Mobile would remove a rival, allowing them to boost margins and earnings.