PagesJaunes mandates six banks

Six banks have been mandated to bookrun the debt backing KKR’s LBO of PagesJaunes, which could see around €5bn of debt come to market around early October.

The six are Bank of America, Calyon, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers.

The line-up is completed by Mizuho Corporate Bank as MLA.

Although details of the structure have not been finalised, early indications are that the deal is likely to approach the mezzanine rather than the bond markets for the subordinated parts of the structure.

Private equity house KKR has bought out France Telecom’s 54% stake in PagesJaunes for €3.3bn and, as the majority shareholder, triggered a takeover bid for the whole company.

The final debt amount will depend on how many shares are tendered under the terms of KKR’s tender offer. If successful, this transaction will be France’s largest leveraged buyout to date. It is also likely to be highly leveraged, at around 9x.

PagesJaunes’ principal activity is the publication of business and public directories and the provision of other services via the internet and minitel.

It also provides website creation, hosting and advertising services for businesses, direct marketing and localisation services.

It publishes directories in Spain via subsidiary QDQ Media and other official directories in Lebanon and Luxembourg, as well as Kompass directories in Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain.