By Marietta Cauchi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON -(Dow Jones)- CVC Capital Partners, owner of Sunrise Communications, is in talks with Providence Equity Partners about a potential tie-up with Orange Switzerland, should Providence succeed in its bid for the Swiss business being sold by France Telecom (FTE), people close to the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday. Final bids for Orange Switzerland are due Dec. 12 and are expected from rival private equity firms Apax Partners and EQT; John Malone's Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA); Egyptian telecommunications company Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (ORTE.CI); and a consortium comprising Iliad, the investment vehicle of billionaire French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, and Goldman Sachs Private Equity. It is unclear whether earlier bidders Bain Capital and Carlyle Group remain in the process. CVC has released banks it had originally locked up to arrange financing for its own bid for Orange Switzerland to work for Providence, one person said. Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) and Perella Weinberg Partners are running the auction for France Telecom which had expressly excluded CVC from the process because it didn't want to provide rival group Sunrise with detailed information about its Swiss unit. France Telecom Thursday confirmed to bidders that CVC was not in the process for Orange Switzerland and the French telecom hadn't been party to any discussions CVC has had with Providence, one person said. France Telecom said each bid will be assessed on its own merit and on the basis that it didn't require financing help from CVC, the person added. -By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
