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Greece’s Wind and Vodafone ‘to merge’
02 February 2012
Wind Hellas will merge with Vodafone’s Greek unit which will own 60% in new entity
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Wind Hellas
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Vodafone and Wind Hellas have agreed to merge Wind with Vodafone’s Greek subsidiary, with an announcement likely by February 9, reported Bloomberg citing Greek daily Kathimerini.
Vodafone shareholders will hold a 60% stake in the combined operator, while Wind’s shareholders will own the remaining 40%, the newspaper stated.
Vodafone group owns 99.878% of Vodafone Greece. Wind Hellas is not connected with Wind in Italy or elsewhere — as the then heavily indebted Greek operation was restructured in October 2010 and taken over by new owners. Senior secured bondholders, including a unit of Providence Equity and distressed debt funds Mount Kellet Capital, Angelo Gordon and Anchorage Advisors, took 100% of the company’s shares in return for agreeing to wipe out €1.2 billion of debt.
Wind Italy, then part of Orascom, is now controlled by Vimpelcom. GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
Vodafone in merger talks with Wind Hellas 30 Aug 2011
Greek regulator sets renewal price for 900MHz frequencies 25 Jul 2011
Wind Hellas in debt restructuring deal 19 Oct 2010
Orascom looks to expand in Europe 15 Jul 2010