Two private equity firms are preparing to make a takeover bid of KPN, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The paper reports that New York-based Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and Swedish EQT AB are working on a bid that could value the communications company at more than €12.5 billion (more than €3 per share).

KPN is the Netherlands’ largest telecommunications firm and for several months, business media have picked up rumours of initial takeover talks.

In November last year, Bloomberg reported that EQT AB was trying to ‘reach a friendly deal’ although it was thought that the market value of KPN at the time was around €11bn.

Insiders have told business papers that KPN’s massive fiber-optic network, providing high-speed internet, is particularly attractive.