Deutsche Telekom and Orange look at alternatives to EE float

European Telecommunications giants Deutsche Telekom and Orange SA are again studying a possible sale of their British mobile phone joint venture EE as an alternative to a stock-market listing.

Nevertheless, an eventual flotation of the asset, which may fetch a price of approximately $19bn (£12bn), is still considered to be the most likely end scenario. Other transactions in the sector this year have yielded an average valuation of £11bn.

Amongst the options being analysed are divesting the partnership – the UK’s largest player in that space - to a financial investor or to a rival, Bloomberg reported.

The news comes on the heels of weak conditions in global capital markets after the summer. On Wednesday challenger bank Aldermore announced that it was pulling its own flotation. In parallel, reports on Thursday suggested that Jimmy Choo had decided to price its own initial public offering at 140p a share – at the lower of the expected price range.

In fact, EE’s own IPO was called off earlier in the year following a strategic review.

The company is facing stiff competition from the likes of Spain’s Telefonica and Vodafone, having lost 37,000 contract and prepaid customers last quarter.

Deutsche Telekom’s main motive for wanting to sell its stake seems to be the need to fund its US unity T-Mobile US.