Sawiris plans to be Long-Term investor in Italian Subsidiary
Egypt’s Naguib Sawiris has planned to be a long-term investor in the Italian telecoms market, through his local Wind subsidiary. He is also dedicated to investing in a LTE upgrade for the mobile network.
According to Sawiris, the company is and will be investing over the long-term in the Italian market focusing on our strategic paradigm to grow Wind from Good to Great. The company is also aiming to position Wind as the market consolidator in both fixed line and mobile, in addition to our serious intention to invest in the 4G telecom network.
Sawiris owns Wind Italy and a 51% stake in Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding via his holding company Weather Investments.
Sawiris Confirms talks with Vimplecom: Weather Investment
If reports are to be believed, Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom said his holding company Weather Investments was talking to telecoms group Vimpelcom about a merger and was open to talks with others. This was the first time Sawiris has confirmed the talks after reports about the merger came.
According to Sawiris, the company is not only talking to them, but is talking to anybody. We have two things on our agenda right now – solving the Algerian issue and, second, finding a good partner for the group.
An earlier attempt by Sawiris to sell assets to South Africa’s MTN broke down after Algerian government refused to let Orascom pass on its unit Djezzy.
Djezzy, Orascom’s main revenue earner, was the deal’s crown jewel, and brokers and bankers worry intervention from the Algerian government could overshadow another deal attempt.
VimpelCom in talks with Coptic billionaire Naguib Sawiris to discuss merger of Weather Investments’s stakes in Orascom and Wind
Russian telecommunications service provider VimpelCom Ltd is in negotiations with Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, to fully merge Wind and a majority stake in Egyptian group Orascom Telecom under its umbrella.
According to the report, Sawiris would become a considerable minor investor in the newly created entity, which would include Sawiris Weather Investments’ 51 percent share in Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding and Italian mobile operator Wind Telecomunicazioni.
For the first quarter, VimpelCom’s net income was of US$412.22 million. Total operating revenues for the quarters’ were US$2.54 billion.
The transaction would create an entity with a combined total mobile subscriber base of more than 200 million customers.
VimpleCom was created by the merger of assets owned by Russia’s Alfa Group and Norway’s Telenor following an acrimonious and long running battle over their Ukrainian investments. VimpelCom is 39.6% owned by Telenor while Alfa’s Altimo unit controls 39.2% and minority shareholders own 21.2 percent. It is not clear what percentage Sawiris would end up with following the proposed merger.
Vimplecom to acquire stakes in Weather from Sawiris (Orascom)
According to Reuter’s, Russia’s Vimpelcom and Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris are close to inking a term sheet for the sale of Sawiris’s Weather Investments. The later owns 51% share of Egyptian-based mobile group Orascom Telecom. Sawiris controls 100 percent of Italian telecom group Wind and just over 50 percent of Orascom Telecom via his holding company Weather Investments. Sawiris is working with Lazard, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to sell Weather to Vimpelcom, citing financial speculation
Vimplecom declined to make immediate comment on the report on Tuesday and Orascom was not immediately available to comment.
MTN and Orascom independently confirm talks. Orascom may be talking to two others.
Industry Leaders To Gather at 3GSM World Congress Asia 2006
ASIA : The 3GSM World Congress Asia – the fastest growing mobile communications event in the region – will bring together a host of industry leaders and personalities from across Asia’s booming mobile industry.
The mobile operator CEOs speaking at the 2006 event, which will be held in Singapore between October 16th and October 20th, include Sunil Mittal from Bharti Televentures, Dr Young-Chu Cho from KTF, Naguib Sawiris from Orascom, Lee Hsien Yang from SingTel Group, Dato Abdul Wahid Omar from Telekom Malaysia, Arve Johansen from Telenor, Sol Trujillo from Telstra and Alexander Izosimov from VimpelCom. Produced by the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for the mobile industry, the 3GSM World Congress Asia will also feature top executives from other mobile-related industries, such as Alejandro Zubillaga, Executive Vice President Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group, and Dr Sachio Semmoto, Founder and CEO of eAccess.
“For this year’s 3GSM Congress in Asia, we have assembled a top-class, yet diverse, line-up of speakers that will pinpoint the key trends in the region’s dynamic and complex market for mobile communications,” said Bill Gajda, the chief marketing officer of the GSM Association. “The Congress is the only event in Asia to attract the top ranking executives from the region’s operator community.”
The Congress presentations, revolving around the central theme of ‘Risk and Reward’, will cover topics ranging from new business models for mobile operators, to the role of China, universal access in emerging markets, the mobile boom in India, mobile virtual network operators and infotainment and content. The 2006 event will also host the GSMA Members Forum – the only annual meeting open to the entire GSMA membership.
This year’s Congress also sees the introduction of the GSMA’s “Asia Mobile Innovation Awards.” These awards are designed to support innovation in the Asian mobile industry by bringing together start-up companies, industry investors, mobile operators and vendors
Source- http://www.3g.co.uk
Technorati : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, Warner Music Group, eAccess, operator
Ice Rocket : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, eAccess, operator
