Apax Closes In on €6.5 Billion Buyout of Warburg Pincus Stake in Dutch Telecom Giant Odido

AMSTERDAM — Private equity firm Apax Partners is nearing an agreement to buy out co investor Warburg Pincus from their joint holding in Dutch telecommunications operator Odido, in a transaction that values the carrier at approximately €6.5 billion ($7.4 billion).

The proposed buyout would consolidate one hundred percent ownership under Apax, marking a substantial increase in enterprise value since the private equity consortium acquired the operator, then known as T Mobile Nederland, from Deutsche Telekom and Tele2 for €5.1 billion in 2022. The company rebranded to Odido in 2023, redesigning its commercial subscription portfolio.

The bilateral transaction follows the postponement of Odido’s planned initial public offering in Amsterdam earlier this year, which was shelved amid volatile capital market conditions and cautious institutional investor sentiment. Around the same period, the operator managed a major cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to an internal customer management environment, leading to data exposure affecting approximately 6.5 million accounts and a public apology from executive leadership.

The shelved listing invited acquisition interest from foreign strategic suitors, including Saudi Arabia’s state backed telecommunications champion STC (stc Group), which evaluated approaches for the Dutch asset. Apax’s move to acquire full equity control positions the firm to retain complete operational direction over the asset without bringing in third party suitors.

Odido remains the largest mobile telecommunications network in the Netherlands, generating nearly €2.4 billion in annual revenue across more than 7.5 million mobile subscribers and handling over 50 percent of domestic mobile data traffic. However, the commercial battleground has centered on fixed line fiber broadband, where Odido holds a 15.2 percent market share, competing directly with market leaders KPN at 36.8 percent and VodafoneZiggo at 34.8 percent.

The potential ownership shift mirrors wider consolidation across the Dutch digital infrastructure landscape, coming on the heels of Liberty Global securing a 90 percent controlling stake in Ziggo Group by acquiring Vodafone’s 50 percent joint venture holding for €1 billion.