Nice rises Friday and today,after being tipped up by Money Week magazine ,with first half sales up 86%,and a cheaper Broadband bundle than Car Phone warehouse,a forward p/e of 15.4 and a likely takeover target seems the one to be on in a guarateed consolidating sector.

i think after hours .... on that basis, would not be too surprised to see sp slacken of a bit today as some lock in their profits ..... my own view is that these first bids will be exactly that

Anyone know the significance of Paragon's convertible bond does this give them first share of the pie ?

Anyone know when an rns is due with the opening bidders

strewth! give the markets time to close .... lol!

Im excited!

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article1560539.ece

Thanks Falco ...... here below a transcript of same ...... not sure how this is available on the internet when seemingly appearing in tomorrow's sunday times though dated today (saturday), but life is full of strangeness ..... if this story is true and that is indeed what BT are offering and that the cap figure shown on this site is accurate (323.59m) , then that would appear to put a premium of about 25% on last night's closing price - i.e. 20/21p ...... i guess there would also be a reasonable chance of a bidding war, but no doubt the press tomorrow and Monday will have more to say on the issue



The Sunday TimesMarch 24, 2007

BT secures regulatory approval for possible 407m Pipex tie-upElizabeth Judge
BT has secured regulatory approval for a tie-up with Pipex, it emerged yesterday, as it joined a group of bidders tabling offers for the 407 million broadband player.

The telecoms giant, whose efforts to secure the UK division of AOL last year, were scuppered by regulatory concerns, has approached regulators for tentative approval for any tie-up.

The group is understood to be among a slew of interested parties, including Carphone Warehouse, BSkyB and Virgin Media, who have tabled initial offers to UBS, Pipexs adviser.

Tiscali and Orange are also thought to be circling Pipex.

The sale of the business, which has more than 570,000 broadband customers, is being conducted on a break-up basis.

As well as offering broadband services to consumers and small businesses Pipex, whose brands include Freedom2 Surf, provides internet hosting services. It also has a Wi-Max venture with Intel.

Analysts said that bidders could be deterred by the difficulty, and cost, of integrating Pipexs broadband customers into their own businesses.

Pipex has been built up through a series of acquisitions during several years.

The group, chaired by Peter Dubens, the entrepreneur, has long been regarded as a sale candidate. As competition in the high-speed internet sector intensifies, big-name players are seeking to maximise returns on infrastructure by scaling up their customer bases.

Pipexs move to exit now is thought to have been triggered in part by its unwillingness to keep up with the big name players crowding the high street by ploughing money into advertising and such areas.

BT and Virgin Media, for whom a successful bid for Pipex would mark a first move into DSL broadband, are at the top of the broadband market.

Analysts value Pipex between 9p and 19.5 p a share, depending on the value ascribed to its nascent Wi-Max venture.

Some have questioned why players such as BT, which looked over the business last year, would be willing to pay a higher price now. BT is being advised by Merrill Lynch.

The competition in broadband has already forced several players out of the market.

Last year the UK arm of AOL was snapped up for 370 million by Carphone Warehouse. In September Pipex, which has been amassed from the acquisition of about 14 businesses, bought Cable & Wirelesss Bulldog customer base for 12 million.Industry experts believe the market will eventually be whittled down to three or four major players, including BT.

This was in The Times today and the 9-19p is a misprint.

Can't find any clues in Sunday papers so guess have to wait til possible RNS tomorrow

This looks kind of interesting, any thought anyone?

From The Sunday TimesMarch 25, 2007

Web intrigue in spy case
Dominic Prince

PIPEX, the 300m quoted internet provider that put itself up for sale last week, has become embroiled in a legal action by arch rival Rackspace, a US-owned London web-hosting business, alleging industrial espionage.

The case centres on former Rackspace managing director Dominic Monkhouse, 40, who left the company last July to head Web Fusion, the web-hosting division of Pipex.

Pipex has suspended him and Rackspace has sacked one of its women employees, with whom Monkhouse is alleged to have had a relationship. He has given court undertakings not to disclose any information before a court hearing.

The woman at Rackspace was accused of passing information to Monkhouse after he joined Pipex. That material concerned tenders, bids, and product pricing, according to insiders.

Monkhouse is a well-known figure and has lectured, spoken at conferences and written articles about the business. Former colleagues expressed surprise at the allegations against him. One said: Youll find that he is spending rather a lot of time skiing at the moment and not much time at his desk.

A Rackspace spokesman said: Rackspace commenced legal proceedings to protect its confidential information with the result that Dominic Monkhouse has given undertakings to the court not to use or disclose any such information pending the trial of this action. The proceedings are continuing.

Rackspace had taken action against Pipex but Rackspaces lawyers, Stevens & Bolton, said: The proceedings against Pipex have been settled. They refused to say on what terms the settlement with Pipex was made.

A spokesman for Pipex said: Dominic Monkhouse is in discussions with his former employer. All information regarding any issues arising from this are subject to restrictions under disclosure. At this time Pipex is not party to the discussions and has no involvement in the issue. As such, we cannot make any comments on the validity of any claims in the public domain.

Rackspace is by far the smaller of the two companies but is growing at a ferocious rate. In the last set of filed accounts it increased its turnover by more than 90% to 16.1m and made after-tax profits of 2.1m. The number of employees has shot up from only four when Monkhouse joined, to more than 100 when he left.

It will be a relief to Pipex boss Peter Dubens and shareholders that Pipex is no longer involved in litigation. Pipex put itself up for sale, with UBS advising on bids, after interest from Richard Bransons Virgin Media Group, formerly NTL.

Last night Monkhouse could not be reached for comment.

that Pipex is no longer involved in litigation is all we need to know.



http://thehermesproject.blogspot.com/2007/03/bt-gets-approval-to-acquire-pipex.html

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=418750&in_page_id=3

i am sure much, though not all, will be revealed tomorrow .... my own suspicions are that there could be an extended fight for PXC presenting investors with the enjoyable conundrum as to when to bank profits

No news, is this normal!

it's marginally disconcerting for sure ..... anyway, i have still banked on a positive result and have bought again this morning

Still No News - Whats happening

I found a snippet on thisismoney website dated 25th but apart from that nowt.

have a look at Brightview (BRV) next one to be taken out after pipex ????
suggested value is 300 per broadband subsciber does this sound about right ???

Disclosure not needed for between 3/5 days. Plenty of time to relieve pi's of their shares.

Lots of Selling

it will be on the basis that delayed news is often not good ..... with E&P companies it is invariably bad ...... in this instance, i do not think it actually anything untoward, though it would be "good manners" for PXC to make some sort of statement, even if it is only that the various bids are being evaluated or similar