The company’s co-managing director Canning Fok revealed that the company has discussed an initial public offering of the combined entity with external investors who have committed approximately £3 billion to fund the deal, according to the Financial Times. Investors include the CPP Investment Board and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.
The UK operator was last listed as a separate unit after its split from BT in 2003.
"There is a liquidity requirement by our investor group and one way to provide will be an IPO, which we will support," said Fok, without revealing details on timeline.
The combined UK business would be managed by David Dyson, Three’s CEO, said Fok. A spokesperson for Ronan Dunne, head of O2 UK, confirmed that the CEO would step down upon completion of the deal.
European regulators are scheduled to decide whether to approve Hutchison Whampoa’s acquisition of O2 by October 16, a deal which would create UK’s largest mobile phone operator by subscribers.
