Liberty Global seen as possible buyer for Orange Switzerland

Pan European cable operator Liberty Global and a raft of private equity firms are reportedly in the running to acquire the Swiss arm of France Telecom.

The French telecom firm and pay TV operator announced at the end of July that it was looking to sell Orange Switzerland as part of a portfolio review that concluded it should pull out of slow growth mature markets where it was not one of the top two firms. Any deal is expected to fetch €1.5 billion and France Telecom has said it would return at least half of the proceeds to shareholders.

Liberty Global, through its Swiss arm Cablecom, is seen as one of the potential candidates as are private equity firms Apax, EQT and Providence Equity.