Swisscom buys debitel
Swiss telco pays $1.63B for 58 percent
stake in German mobile-phone operator
July 09, 1999: 4:33 a.m. ET
LONDON (CNNfn) - Swisscom will pay $1.63 billion for a
58 percent stake in German mobile-phone operator debitel,
a subsidiary of auto and aerospace giant DaimlerChrysler.
The majority state-owned Swiss telecom operator will
buy a 32.4 percent stake from DaimlerChrysler ,a further
17.7 percent stake from Germany's leading retailer Metro
and a 7.9 percent from an investment vehicle jointly
owned by Metro and Deutsche Bank.
Swisscom will also extend the offer, which values
debitel at 32 euros per share, to debitel's retail investors
who hold 20 percent of the company following an initial
public offering at the end of March.
DaimlerChrysler and Metro will each retain a 10 percent
stake in the business. A DaimlerChrysler spokesman
confirmed the company plans to dispose of its remaining
stake, but said there was as yet no time frame for the sale.
The acquisition of debitel, a Berlin-based provider of
pan-European cellular services and the owner of two
German-based Internet service providers, will double
Swisscom's customer base to about seven million.
Swisscom's shares were up 1.2 percent in Zurich at 598
Swiss francs. In Frankfurt, DaimlerChrysler was up a
similar amount at 88.95 euros, while Metro was less than
half a percent higher at 60 euros.
The deal is part of Swisscom's attempts to establish
itself as a leading force in the European telecom sector,
which is undergoing rapid consolidation. |
