* Denmark's TDC turns down bid approach
* Consortium member says there is dialogue with group
* TDC agreed $2.5 billion Swedish deal last week (Writes through with context)
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Emil Gjerdingnielson
COPENHAGEN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Shares in Danish telecoms operator TDC TDC.CO surged after it rejected a reported $6 billion takeover approach from Australia's Macquarie MQG.AX and three Danish pension funds.
The approach marks the latest attempt at consolidating the fragmented Nordic telecoms market and follows continued speculation that TDC could be a target for both private equity and larger industry players.
TDC, which has more than three million mobile customers in Denmark and Norway and has agreed a $2.5 billion deal in Sweden, said late on Wednesday it had turned down an indicative bid from Macquarie, Australia's largest investment bank, and pension funds ATP, PFA and PKA. rose to their highest level in 2-1/2 years and were trading 18 percent higher at 44.15 crowns at 1010 GMT -- below the reported offer price of 47 or 48 crowns.
The consortium confirmed on Thursday it had approached TDC to discuss an all-cash deal, and said it would invest in networks and not cut any staff if it won control.
"There is a dialogue (with TDC), and we would like it to continue," Christian Hyldahl, chief executive of Denmark's largest pension fund ATP, told a news conference on Thursday.
"There is no formal offer, and we don't know what the next step will be," he said.
TDC'S SWEDISH DEAL
TDC said only last week it had agreed a $2.5 billion takeover of Swedish Modern Times Group's MTGb.ST broadcasting and entertainment business. uncertainty over the impact on that deal, MTG shares fell 3.4 percent on Thursday.
Denmark's largest telecoms operator with yearly revenue of around 20 billion crowns, TDC owns multiple brands and supplies TV, broadband, landline and mobile to both commercial and consumer markets. It also has a significant business in Norway.
Danish business newspaper Borsen had on Wednesday cited unnamed sources as saying the Macquarie consortium had offered 47 Danish crowns per share.
Berlingske, another Danish daily, reported on Thursday that the consortium had lifted the offer price by 1 crown per share to 48 crowns per share within the last days.
An offer of 47 crowns per share would value the company at 38.2 billion Danish crowns ($6.30 billion)
Neither TDC nor the consortium gave any financial details of the offer.
In a successful bid, Macquarie would own slightly more than 50 percent of shares in TDC, while the three Danish funds would divide the rest evenly between them, Berlingske reported.
The newspapers also reported that the bidding consortium is working with Nordea Bank NDA.ST and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) on a deal.
Less than two years ago, TDC rejected a potential takeover approach from another private equity player, believed to be Apollo Global Management APO.N .
The former national telecom - still the country's biggest telecoms operator - was listed in 1994 and the Danish state gave up control of the company later that decade.
In 2005, a consortium of U.S. and British funds including Apax Partners, Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Group and Permira, took control of the company in a 76 billion crowns leveraged buyout - Europe's biggest at the time. ($1 = 6.0635 Danish crowns)
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http://reut.rs/2shTufq BREAKINGVIEWS-TDC has narrow bandwidth for takeover defence
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