Thus, the former Scottish Telecom, publishes its pathfinderprospectus today buoyed up by last week's #1.9bn bid for Orangewhich could help to set a similar value for the ScottishPowersubsidiary.
Until Mannesman's move for Orange, the slide in Internet stockswas prompting suggestions that ScottishPower would have been smarterto have chosen the summer for the offloading of the 25% to 49% stakein Thus that is coming to the market.
Thus has more than half its business in Internet activity, witharound 42% in its original area of mainstream telecoms, and 7% incall centres, where it is the UK's fifth-biggest operator.
However, managing director Bill Allan has insisted that Thuswould be valued by reference to the telecoms not the Internetsector. Last week saw telecoms hitting new peaks on Orange fever,while stock market newcomer Redstone Telecom was six timesoversubscribed ahead of its debut today. ScottishPower valued Thusat #1.5bn to #2bn last month, and analysts are now suggesting thatthe top end of that range could be reached.
Final pricing will not be set until after the closing date ofNovember 10, and Wall Street in particular will be the arbiter ofwhere the price eventually lands. The offer will be open only tolarge institutional investors.
Thus was revealed at the weekend to have suffered the loss ofwhat it had billed as a key contract, won only four months ago fromScottish & Newcastle. Although the deal to link S&N's 80 sitesaround the UK with data services was worth only #2m over threeyears, it was the first national contract of its kind.
o S&N may put up to 900 pubs on the market following its #1bnacquisition of the Greenalls pub business, according to a weekendreport. It is said to be aiming to raise #400m by selling 500 of itslower-value tenanted pubs and up to 400 managed pubs.
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