Has C&W won the Energis bidding war?

Cable & Wireless (C&W) and Thus have clashed in a battle to buy fellow telco Energis, as both strive to compete more effectively against industry leader BT.

Thus revealed on Monday morning that it had made an £800m bid for Energis, rivalling an earlier bid from C&W.

C&W is reported to be offering around £710m for Energis, which is the third largest UK telecoms firm behind BT and C&W.

C&W's approach has been rejected by one group of Energis debt holders, who believe the offer isn't attractive enough. With debts of around £700m, Energis' future lies in the hands of the investment banks, hedge funds and other bodies which hold Energis bonds and debts. C&W responded on Friday with a 'take it or leave it' statement claiming its deal would die at 17:00(BST) on Monday unless 75 per cent of Energis debt holders accepted it.

In response, Thus announced its own offer which Bill Allan - the company's chief executive - claimed was a credible one that would help it grow to become the leading alternative to BT.

However, by mid-afternoon on Monday it appeared Thus' attempt to snatch away C&W's plan had failed. Chelys, the firm which owns Energis, issued a statement announcing it was rejecting the proposal, claiming it offered less value than C&W's offer.

The firm said: "The board of Chelys carefully considered that proposal but rejected it for reasons of value, uncertainty and deliverability."

Both C&W and Thus are offering a mixture of cash and company shares but C&W's proposal is said to include more cash.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK