PARIS-France Telecom said Monday it sold its 27.3-percent stake in MobilCom AG to Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a U.S. private equity fund, for $341.5 million in cash. Following the sale, France Telecom will continue to own 1 percent of MobilCom, a wireless and fixed-line reseller in Germany.
The transaction reflects the withdrawal of France Telecom from the German residential and mobile market and is a part of the Group’s regular portfolio review, the French company said.
The sale brings to an end France Telecom’s stormy relationship with MobilCom, which purchased a UMTS license n Germany in 2000 for about $7.6 billion. MobilCom was forced to end its 3G buildout when France Telecom stopped funding the company under its huge debt load.
German operator E-Plus purchased MobilCom’s UMTS infrastructure for about $23 million in 2003. E-Plus, which is owned by Dutch company KPN Telecom, acquired 3,723 UMTS locations, 931 of which included base station equipment. The payment recouped only a small percentage of the $550 million MobilCom spent building the 3G network.
