Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate behind mobile operator Jio, is interested in a takeover of T-Mobile Netherlands, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Deutsche Telekom is seeking around EUR 5 billion for the Dutch operator.
No agreement on the takeover has been reached yet. Deutsche Telekom declined to comment, Reliance was not immediately available for comment.
Deutsche Telekom is working with Morgan Stanley on the sale of T-Mobile. In addition to Reliance, various private equity companies are looking at the company, such as Apax Partners, Apollo Global Management and BC Partners. The sale process is still at an early stage, the report said.
T-Mobile Netherlands is 75 percent owned by Deutsche Telekom and 25 percent by Tele2. It recently became the largest mobile operator in the country and is also investing in rolling out fibre broadband services.
Reliance is the largest company in India in terms of market capitalisation. In addition to the successful mobile operator Jio, it owns businesses in oil refining, petrochemicals and retail.
