Decision on KPNQwest buyer nears
As liquidators of the telecom company determine whether it's possible to sell Europe's largest data network whole, one bidder says a buyer may be picked as soon as Wednesday.
Plans to sell bankrupt KPNQwest's fiber-optic network have been plagued by numerous obstacles and have been complicated by the sheer number of bankruptcy procedures filed by its units in nearly a dozen European countries.
The trustees have so far managed to keep the 25,000km network operational despite a dispute with KPNQwest's banks over funds collected from clients.
Keeping the network together and operating prevents its price from deteriorating with the two bidders looking to buy it in more or less one chunk--U.S. telecom giant AT&T and Dutch venture fund Trimoteur.
A Trimoteur representative told Reuters that it made a comprehensive offer for the network and expected a decision by the end of the day Wednesday, when a deadline set by a liquidator in France to sell assets in that country expires.
"If the French administrator sells those assets individually, then the value of the network could drop by 90 percent," said Trimoteur associate partner Joost van Raay. He declined to name the value of the group's offer.
It was not immediately clear whether AT&T has also made a final bid for the network, and KPNQwest administrators were not available for comment.
There are also nearly 40 groups interested in buying pieces of the network from local administrators. KPNQwest's self-sustaining central European network is to be sold separately.
On Monday a group of telecom operators led by one of KPNQwest's founders, Dutch phone incumbent KPN, whose clients still use the network, said they would help to keep key parts of the network up at least until the end of June.
The other founder and key client, U.S. local carrier Qwest, has mostly remained in the shadows, concentrating on its own woes, with its chief executive, Joseph Nacchio, resigning earlier this month.
A source close to the talks said that the need to coordinate the actions of the administrators and to evaluate individual country assets has hampered efforts to nail down a comprehensive deal in the three weeks since KPNQwest collapsed.
"That's the devilish part," the source said. He added that the Tuesday deadline may be flexible.
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