The Wall Street Journal reports that Orange may have set a mid-November deadline for bids for buying the company. Companies that have shown an interest, according to the Wall Street Journal, include Cable and Wireless Communications PLC of the United Kingdom, Digicel of Jamaica and Grupo E. Leon Jimenes in the Dominican Republic. WSJ says that preliminary offers value the company at around EUR1 billion. As reported, the company put the Dominican branch up for auction this summer as part of an attempt to reduce debt and increase its financial flexibility overall. The Dominican branch is the French company’s only major asset in Latin America. In the third quarter, the unit had 3.3 million mobile subscribers, up 6.3% from a year earlier, according to company figures. It had revenue of EUR451 million in 2012, or 1% of Orange’s overall sales, according to the company’s annual report.
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-367667/