The financing for the takeover of BCE is proceeding as disclosed in regulatory filings, said Jim Leech, president and CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, on Wednesday.
“I look forward to the time when Bell is out of the eye of the media and can concentrate its resources and time on improving products and services to its millions of customers,” he said at the Private Equity Symposium in Toronto.
Leech added that Teachers’ has been fielding calls asking if its financing is secure and if it is still committed to the deal.
Shares of BCE have dropped well below the $42.75 a share being offered by the Teachers’-led consortium because of speculation that the purchase might collapse. The stock closed yesterday at $35.
Many high-profile leveraged buyouts have fallen through as buyers have pulled out because they had trouble finding financing due to the credit crunch.
Also, BCE’s bondholders have filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that the sale is unfair to them.
To try and quell the speculation that the deal might not go through, BCE issued a statement last month that said it is not “involved in any discussions regarding any renegotiation of any of the terms of the definitive agreement” entered into last year.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has scheduled a public hearing for Feb. 25, 2008, to review the change in control of BCE’s broadcasting licences to the investor group led by Teachers’.
For more about the BCE deal, click here to read our special web-only section, The Rise of Private Equity.
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