Cable & Wireless Mulls Services Move With 2e2 Buy

Services provider 2e2 is reportedly an acquisition target for telecoms giant Cable & Wireless Worldwide.

2e2 is mostly owned by private equity group Duke Street Capital (DSC) and, according to the Register, DSC is edging toward its five-year exit plan.

It cited “industry insiders” as saying that talks between the two parties had begun several weeks ago, as Cable & Wireless Worldwide looks to expand beyond its traditional telecom business into the services arena.

Rumoured Talks

“The figure bid [by C&W WW] is £360m,” claimed the Register’s source. “But the investment firms behind 2e2 are holding out for £450m.”

However independent verification of the acquisition report has not been possible at the time of writing.

“We don’t comment on rumour and speculation,” a C&W spokesman told eWEEK Europe UK. Likewise, a 2e2 spokesman also confirmed that it had no comment to make on the issue.

Service provider 2e2 acquired fellow service provider Morse back in June 2010.

Whilst both companies were roughly the same size, 2e2 was more focused on the public sector and managed services, whilst Morse’s core areas included the IT services arena.

O2 Joint Venture

In an interview with Morse back in February 2010, principal consultant Brian Murray warned that the UK’s CRC laws were flawed, as they did not take into account companies simply moving their data centres offshore and it didn’t take into account power from renewable sources.

2e2 was also in the news recently when it joined forces with mobile operator O2 to launch a joint venture, O2 Unify, which can outsource customers’ IT and communications needs to a single UK provider.

In addition to the services provided by traditional converged solutions, such as fixed and mobile voice and data communications, O2 Unify’s portfolio also includes managed wide area network connectivity, cloud data services and flexible working solutions.