A flurry of takeover activity in the electronic data interchange and telecommunications services sector across Europe is tipped to follow AT&T Co’s knockout UKP180m offer for Istel Ltd – and according to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T had to outbid about 20 other US, European and Japanese companies to secure the prize, which is why Istel is going out on an exit price-earnings ratio of 25. AT&T’s muscle behind Istel is forecast to provide a big boost to electronic data interchange across Europe – and the market is already put at $1,500m. AT&T also plans eventually to import some Istel services and products into the US, likely including the Istel Edict system for managing document interchanges. And AT&T will put up the money Istel needs to move onto the continent in strength – in 1988 just 1% of its UKP85.1m business was done outre Manche.
