CWW in a bid to buy up 2e2
CABLE & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) is in preliminary talks to buy cloud services firm 2e2 in a deal that could be worth £400m.
Beleaguered CWW hopes to wrest control of the firm from its private equity backer Duke Street, which owns just under half of the IT company, and Hutton Collins, which owns 24 per cent.
CWW is looking to bolster its cloud services to offer a more complete package to its clients. It has been forced to issue two profit warnings this year, which it said were partly caused by decreased government spending.
A company spokesman told City A.M. it does not comment on rumour and speculation.
The business, which split from the former Cable & Wireless Group in 2009, announced last month it has turned cashflow positive for the first time.
It reported free cash flow generation of £61m. In 2006 it was burning through well over £400m in cash.
It slashed costs to push pre-tax profit up 23 per cent to £143m on slightly lower revenues of £2.3bn.
2e2 reported operating profits last year of £14.9m on revenues of £327m.