United Internet seeks buyers for 1.5-billion-euro email providers

United Internet is looking to sell two of Germany’s top email providers, GMX and Web.de, for around 1.5 billion euros ($1.52 billion), the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Thursday citing sources familiar with the matter.

Potential buyers could bid for either a minority or majority stake in the company’s consumer applications division, according to the report.

It said United Internet’s founder and chief executive, Ralph Dommermuth, could use the sale as a way to generate capital to develop the group’s own 5G network, which would end the group’s reliance on leasing out infrastructure from competitors.

Perella Weinberg, the investment bank in charge of the sale, sent out information packages to potential bidders in May, sources told Handelsblatt, and the first bids are expected in the coming days, with a deal to be signed as early as autumn. Reuters