Carphone closes in on Tiscali

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 6 May 2009 at 11:34

Carphone Warehouse is reportedly close to sealing a deal to buy Tiscali's British broadband assets.

Troubled Tiscali has been attempting to sell off its UK business for over a year, with potential suitors including Sky and Vodafone.

A proposed deal with Sky collapsed in March, after the two sides failed to agree a price.

Tiscali was then plunged into further turmoil last month, when auditor Ernst & Young refused to sign off the company's accounts because of "fundamental uncertainties on the business continuity".

Tiscali, which reportedly has debts of more than £500m, is now close to reaching a deal with Carphone Warehouse, according to a report in The Times.

The newspaper doesn't reveal how much the deal is worth, but says talks are due to conclude either later this week or over the weekend.

The takeover would make Carphone Warehouse - which already owns both the TalkTalk and the AOL brands - the second biggest ISP in the country, behind BT.