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To: pat mudge who wrote (12157)	7/9/1999 9:06:00 AM
From: zbyslaw owczarczyk	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 18016

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.