Swisscom, Switzerland's national telecoms carrier, is considering joining forces with a consortium of private equity firms to launch a $12bn (€10.2bn) bid for TDC, its Danish counterpart, in what would be Europe's largest buy-out.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Swisscom is in talks with two UK buy-out houses, Cinven and BC Partners, and two US firms, Apollo Management and Silver Lake Partners. It cites sources close to the bidding.