GNN Ads
MOSCOW: Vimpelcom (VIP.O), Russia's third largest mobile telecoms network operator, is considering selling, merging or refinancing its Italian unit Wind, which has debts of around $14 billion, the Financial Times newspaper said on Monday.
The company has been in discussions with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa (0013.HK), which owns 3 Italia, the paper said, citing sources familiar with the situation.
But the talks did not progress as far as negotiations on a deal, it added.
Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) is the leading player in Italy's mobile phone market, followed by Vodafone Italia (VOD.L), Vimpelcom's Wind and Hutchison Whampoa's 3 Italia and there has long been speculation that companies will seek to consolidate in the face of fierce price competition.
Earlier this year Hutchison Whampoa tried but failed to do a deal with Telecom Italia, which also rejected approaches made by Wind's former owner Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian business tycoon.
Vimpelcom, part-owned by Mikhail Fridman's Altimo and Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL), bought a 51 percent stake in Egypt-based Orascom Telecom (OTMT.CA) and all of Italy's Wind in 2011 for $6 billion.
Vimpelcom and a spokesman for the Italian mobile unit of Hutchison Whampoa did not respond to requests for comment.(GNN)(Reuters)(GNN INT)
(Reporting by Megan Davies in Moscow and Danilo Masoni in Milan; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
The company has been in discussions with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa (0013.HK), which owns 3 Italia, the paper said, citing sources familiar with the situation.
But the talks did not progress as far as negotiations on a deal, it added.
Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) is the leading player in Italy's mobile phone market, followed by Vodafone Italia (VOD.L), Vimpelcom's Wind and Hutchison Whampoa's 3 Italia and there has long been speculation that companies will seek to consolidate in the face of fierce price competition.
Earlier this year Hutchison Whampoa tried but failed to do a deal with Telecom Italia, which also rejected approaches made by Wind's former owner Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian business tycoon.
Vimpelcom, part-owned by Mikhail Fridman's Altimo and Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL), bought a 51 percent stake in Egypt-based Orascom Telecom (OTMT.CA) and all of Italy's Wind in 2011 for $6 billion.
Vimpelcom and a spokesman for the Italian mobile unit of Hutchison Whampoa did not respond to requests for comment.(GNN)(Reuters)(GNN INT)
(Reporting by Megan Davies in Moscow and Danilo Masoni in Milan; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
