By Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - Eamonn O'Hare, a former Virgin Media finance director, plans to list a new company to raise cash to buy, turn around and sell assets in the European technology, media and telecommunications sector with a value of up to 3 billion pounds ($4.58 billion).
O'Hare, also former chief financial officer at the UK arm of retailer Tesco (L:TSCO), has set up a firm called Zegona and is seeking to raise an initial 30 million pounds ($45.8 million) through a placing.
"It's a very simple strategy of buy-fix-sell," he told Reuters in an interview
"That (initial placing) will be strongly backed by major institutional investors. Our objective is to go out and acquire a portfolio of sizeable assets with enterprise values of 1 to 3 billion sterling."
The European TMT sector has seen a wave of deal making in recent years and Zegona will target those companies that are too small to interest the likes of Vodafone (L:VOD), Liberty Global (O:LBTYA) and Telefonica (MC:TEF) and too big for private equity.
Many equity investors have also recently taken cash out of big telecommunication firms like Vodafone, following the $130 billion sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless, meaning they could be keen to recycle money back into the sector to benefit from its strong yields.
Wider changes in the way people consume content has already resulted in a convergence between fixed-line, mobile and TV companies across the region, that could prove an opening for the new firm.
Key features that the new firm will be looking for in its acquisition targets include a network, preferably with reliable subscription revenues and margins that have the potential to improve, pointing towards small cable, fixed-line or mobile operators.
O'Hare, who will hold the roles of chairman and chief executive, will be joined by Robert Samuelson as chief operating officer, who previously worked at Virgin Media and Virgin Group.
They say there are more than 70 companies in their "sweet spot" and that they have a short list drawn up.
JP Morgan Securities will act as joint bookrunner and joint broker. Oakley Capital is also a joint bookrunner.