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Apax agrees full takeover of Odido

Warburg Pincus is selling its stake, but regulators and employee representatives still need to be involved.

Funds advised by Apax have reached an agreement to purchase Warburg Pincus’s stake in Odido. Once completed, the Dutch telecoms provider will be wholly owned by Apax; the financial terms have not been disclosed.

The agreement announced on Friday changes the relationship between Odido’s existing owners. Apax is buying out its co-investor and will remain involved in the telecoms provider. The agreement does not yet constitute a completed transfer: conditions apply, including regulatory approval and consultation with employee representatives. This is stated in Apax’s announcement of 16 October. No definitive completion date is given.

For customers and employees, the company presents the transaction as a continuation of its existing direction. Chief executive Søren Abildgaard says in the accompanying statement that management and strategy will remain unchanged. Apax expresses its intention to support further investment in the network, security and services. These are commitments by the parties involved; the announcement contains no separate investment figure or specific new performance targets against which that ambition can be assessed.

How much Apax is paying remains unknown. ANP also reports that the companies are unwilling to provide financial details. This means the proceeds for the departing shareholder cannot be established. Nor is it possible to calculate the current enterprise value at which the transaction is taking place on the basis of the public announcement. A figure for Odido as a whole would, moreover, not necessarily equal the price of the stake now being sold.

The investors’ joint involvement began with the purchase of what was then T-Mobile Nederland. Deutsche Telekom and Tele2 announced that sale in September 2021. The transfer was completed on 31 March 2022, according to Deutsche Telekom’s original confirmation. These two dates explain why both 2021 and 2022 appear in accounts of the earlier takeover.

The agreed enterprise value in that earlier transaction was €5.1 billion, according to Deutsche Telekom. That historical figure in itself says nothing about the current sale price. It mainly provides background to the ownership history: the current buyer has been involved for years, while Warburg Pincus is now transferring its stake. Friday’s new development is the agreement reached between those existing shareholders.

Odido has used its current name since 2023 and also owns the Ben and Simpel brands, ANP writes. According to the news agency, the company serves around eight million consumer and business customers with mobile services, fixed broadband, television and business connections. This therefore represents a change of ownership at a company used daily by many households and businesses.

Apax has engaged Stibbe, among others, to provide legal advice. The law firm confirmed its involvement on Friday and referred to corporate law, financial and regulatory aspects of the transaction. For now, the remaining procedure and the actual transfer are the next verifiable steps. The agreement alone does not establish any change in subscription prices, staffing levels or services; the announcement contains no specific new decisions on these matters.

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