Takeover target Cable & Wireless Worldwide is expected to seek more time for suitors Tata Communications and Vodafone to decide whether they want to bid for the British telecoms group, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Both Vodafone and India's Tata Communications are facing a 5pm GMT deadline today to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the company currently valued at 942 million or walk away.
The deadline can be extended with the permission from the regulator, the Takeover Panel, in the UK.
Tata Communications thinks it did not get as much time as Vodafone to evaluate a possible bid as the latter got an extension earlier. However, Vodafone thinks it still has not received enough information to decide on a bid, the sources, which declined to be named, said.
Both Vodafone and Tata Communications are facing a 5pm GMT deadline today to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the company currently valued at 942 million or walk away.
Vodafone announced in February it was in the early stages of looking at a bid for C&W Worldwide, which has issued a string of profit warnings since it split from Cable & Wireless Communications two years ago.
Tata Communications, a unit of the Tata Group, said at the beginning of March it too was evaluating a possible cash offer, in what could set up a takeover battle for troubled C&W Worldwide, which has fixed telephone lines that can be used to relieve pressure on mobile networks, and provides voice, data and other services.
C&W Worldwide also has an international cable network connecting more than 150 countries, a factor that could be of particular interest for Tata Communications.
Spokeswomen for Cable & Wireless Worldwide and Tata Communications declined to comment. Vodafone officials could not be immediately reached in London outside business hours.
Standard Chartered is advising Tata Communications, and one of the sources said the Indian company has also recently roped in Morgan Stanley. Rothschild and Barclays Capital are advising C&W Worldwide, while UBS is the adviser to Vodafone.
