Free ride

10 January 2006 By Mike Verdin

By voting against the E12.5bn private equity takeover of the Danish telecoms group, ATP might look like it wants to skewer the bid. More likely, as TDC’s biggest shareholder, ATP wants to benefit from a private equity turnaround without paying private equity fees.

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ATP, Denmark's biggest pension fund, said it would vote its 5.5% stake in TDC, the former telecoms monopoly, against an agreed E12.5bn bid from private equity.

The pension fund, which holds nearly 9% of its Danish equity portfolio in TDC, said that, under the operator's existing plans, it should be possible to generate an attractive longterm return.

ATP said the private equity offer was offhand attractive. The fund added that "against this background, it was natural that the board recommended that shareholders accept.

"ATP would like to express its recognition of the efforts and professionalism of the managers of TDC in its handling of the offer."

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