I Don't Make This Stuff Up
UK's Orange plans merger with KPN, Sonera - paper
LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) - Orange, the UK-based mobile phone company bought by France Telecom last week, plans to merge with Dutch KPN Mobile and Finland's Sonera , Britain's Sunday Business newspaper said.
Citing investment banking sources, the newspaper said plans for the merger, aimed at creating a rival worth 135 billion pounds ($202.2 billion) to compete against mobile giant Vodafone AirTouch Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L), were at an early stage.
The sources told the newspaper that Orange would most likely bid for Sonera first, the cheaper of the two and valued at 12 billion pounds. Control of that company would give Orange access to Scandinavian, Baltic and Turkish markets.
The newspaper said the acquisition of KPN Mobile would give Orange a window on Asian markets and ties with U.S. companies Qwest (NYSE:Q - news) and Bell South (NYSE:BLS - news).
KPN Mobile, part of KPN Telecommunications which is 43.5 percent owned by the Dutch government, will be floated later this year.
KPN was itself outbid for Orange last month when France Telecom bought Orange, headed by Hans Snook, for 25.1 billion pounds from Vodafone as part of the latter's takeover of Germany's Mannesmann AG .
Snook gave no hint of the planned merger in an interview with the newspaper but said: ``My objective is to see us once again as an independent, listed company, powerful enough to take on Vodafone.''
The newspaper said Snook would have to persuade France Telecom to let him push ahead with his ambitious plans. Snook insisted he runs Orange.
``We will not be run by France Telecom, we will be an independent company, not a subsidiary,'' he told the newspaper, in reference to his plans to list Orange later this year. ``We need to increase our footprint very, very quickly in order to compete with Vodafone,'' he added. |
