The British investment bankers, N M Rothschild & Sons, have been appointed to advise Telecom Eireann and RTE on selling their shareholdings in Cablelink.
Various valuations have been put on the cable company which is now tipped to make up to £250 million when it is put out to tender.
The contract to advise the Cablelink shareholders was highly sought after as it provides lucrative fee income. The financial advisers could receive 2-3 per cent of the company's sale value. It is understood that 18 parties sought the work. Rothschilds carry out a lot of work advising on the sales of telecoms companies as well as on mergers and acquisitions in the industry.
Cablelink is 75 per cent owned by Telecom and 25 per cent by RTE. The Republic's largest cable network, it has more than 350,000 customers in Dublin Waterford and Galway. The announcement of the appointment of advisers was welcomed last night by Minister for Public Enterprise Mrs O'Rourke. She said Cablelink is very well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities in the development of the multi-media sector and the opening up to competition of voice telephony services.
Although Cablelink needs substantial investment - some sources reckon £120 million is required to upgrade it - the network is expected to attract keen interest from Ireland and abroad. Among those expected to at least examine the company are NTL which owns Cabletel in Northern Ireland, Time Warner and WorldCom. Esat Telecom may also be in the running.
The sale is expected to be concluded by the end of the year.
