Tiscali runs into trouble

ITALIAN ISP Tiscali which has a strong presence in the UK is in deep doo-doo after share trading in the outfit was suspended in Milan today after they dropped 40 per cent in a day.

This left the outfit worth just £90million and scrabbling around for a sugar daddy [shurely a white knight. Ed] to help it restructure its debts. If it had managed to flog its UK operations it would have cleared the lot.

However a string of bidders, including Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse, pulled out of the auction because the Italians wanted too much dosh.

This left BskyB and the satellite outfit was starting to get chillier toes as the economic climate worsened.

Tiscali has around 1.7 million British customers after buying Pipex and broadband telly company Home Choice.

These punters have been leaving in droves and the company admitted that the worsening market environment means "it is de facto impossible to proceed" with the deal.

Bankers originally quoted an asking price of about £600 million, but Sky is believed to estimate that the business is worth closer to £250 million. It pointed out, with some accuracy, that all it had to do was wait and all Tiscali's customers would sign up to Sky anyway.

Tiscali has a €500 million debt pile and has asked the banks not to demand the next two payments, totalling €11 million which have to be paid tomorrow.

Now it is starting to look like Tiscali will begin a firesale of its assets so if anyone wants a second hand pasta maker it might be good time to check on Ebay.it. µ

L'Inq
Guardian