5th May 2005 09:17
TeleCity PLC05 May 2005 5 May 2005 TeleCity plc ("TeleCity" or the "Company") TeleCity announces end of talks with potential offeror The Board of TeleCity announces that discussions about a possible offer for theCompany have ended. On 24 January 2005 TeleCity announced that it had received an indicativeproposal regarding a possible offer for the Company. On 20 April 2005, TeleCityissued a further announcement which identified 3i Group plc ("3i") as thepotential bidder and clarified that the potential offer envisaged a sectorconsolidating transaction that would have involved taking TeleCity private. Discussions with 3i have been ongoing since that time. 3i informed the Boardlast night that it had concluded that an agreement as to a consolidationtransaction incorporating the possible offer for TeleCity was unlikely in theimmediate future. As a result, talks between TeleCity and 3i on this subjecthave ended. Michael Hepher, TeleCity's chairman commented: "As detailed in the results for the three months to 31 March 2005 releasedtoday, we are making very good progress in creating value for shareholders. Themanagement team has delivered a very strong first quarter performance and thepipeline remains robust. The Board recognises that a combination of majorplayers within the sector has the potential to deliver further value from costand revenue synergies, benefits from increased scale and improved overall marketdynamics. We entered into these discussions as a possible way of achieving suchan industry consolidation, and will discuss opportunities with sectorparticipants should they arise in the future. Throughout the process we haveremained focussed on managing the business, as demonstrated by our positivefirst quarter results, and we will continue to focus on delivering value toshareholders." Ian Nolan of 3i commented: "TeleCity management have made tremendous progress over the last two years.Their efforts have generated a strong platform for the industry consolidationwhich we believe is inevitable. We have welcomed the Board's support for ourefforts to achieve that consolidation and we look forward to continuing tosupport the Company in this objective in the future." This announcement has been made with the consent of 3i Group. Enquiries: TeleCity plcRicky Hudson 020 7519 4877 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
3i Group