Fastweb accepts Swisscom proposal for minority stake
If reports are to be believed, Fastweb SpA’s has accepted an offer from Swisscom AG to buy the remaining shares not previously owned by Fastweb.
The board decided to accept the offer to buy the remaining 17.918% of Fastweb at US$24.61 a share and the Swiss telecommunications operator’s is offering worth US$350.13 million.
According to Fastweb, its board had accepted the offer after a fairness opinion which was carried out by its advisors.
Swisscom will make the offer through its subsidiary, Swisscom Italia and will finance the purchase using existing credit lines or its own funds. Once the company buys all the shares, it will delist Fastweb from the Milan exchange.
According to Swisscom, Fastweb had achieved strong growth since its 2007 takeover of the Italian operator and could take advantage of further growth offered by the telecommunications market in Italy.
But Stefano Parisi, Fastweb’s ex-chief executive, and other Fastweb executives, are under investigation by Rome prosecutors in a tax fraud case.
As per Prosecutors, Fastweb and its rival Sparkle, a unit of Telecom Italia SpA, bought and sold US$2.73 billion in broadband traffic to and from phony companies backed by the Ndrangheta mob of southern Italy. The mob used a series of transactions to filter huge amount of money while the broadband providers reaped millions in value-added tax credits.
Telecom Italia’s 2009 results further delayed
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Due to a probe into alleged money laundering and tax fraud involving the cable unit Sparkle, the announcement of the results of 2009 scheduled to take place on April 12 has been postponed for the second time by Telecom Italia SpA.
However, the company has expressed optimism on its performance in early 2010 besides it has also downplayed the risks. Italy largest operator feels that the extra time will provide it with the outcome of the ongoing reviews on Sparkle.
According to chief executive Franco Bernabe, the company sees no risks in the pursuit of reducing debt and in its ability to remunerate its shareholders and expressed his satisfaction for the progress made by the company in the first months of this year. The company has called a shareholder meeting for April 29 and has planned to announce its updated business plan by next month.
April 7 has been set as a date of hearing by a judge in Rome to decide whether to put Sparkle and telecom operator Fastweb SpA into temporary court administration, as part of the probe into their alleged involvement in money laundering and tax evasion.
Telecom Italia is strong and trustworthy- company’s CEO
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reassuring the company’s strength and trustworthiness, a letter has been issued to the employees of Telecom Italia SpA, by its Chief Executive Franco Bernabe in which he has expressed his deep trouble regarding the probe started against its cable unit TI Sparkle.
TI Sparkle has been alleged for tax fraud and money laundering. It has been alleged by the prosecutors that fictitious international phone service purchases and sales worth more than EUR2 billion between 2003 and 2006 had been used to launder the money. It has also been alleged that the entire laundering and fraud was carried out with the knowledge of top executives at Telecom Italia’s Sparkle and at rival Fastweb SpA.
Any wrongdoings have been denied by the companies which have claimed that they are the victims of the fraud.
According to Bernabe, the company and all its employees have to feel strengthened by the belief that if something wrong happened in the past it won’t ever happen again in the future.
Telecom Italia’s 09 financial results delayed
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Publication of the financial results of 2009 has been delayed by Telecom Italia. The decision is the result of the allegations of tax fraud at its carrier services unit Sparkle. Around EUR 300 million of Sparkle’s cash and borrowings has been seized by the Italian authorities. The amount matches the value the alleged tax credit illegally accrued in 2005-07.
According to Telecom Italia, the case relates to a previously disclosed investigation of Sparkle by the judicial authorities concerning alleged VAT fraud by a supplier operating in premium telecommunications services.
All commercial relations with the subjects under investigation were broke off by Sparkle and the issue was the subject of internal inquiries and audits carried out in July 2007.
Telecom Italia launches investigation in tax scam
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Thorough investigation has been launched by Telecom Italia into the role of one of its subsidiaries in an alleged €2bn ($2.7bn) tax evasion scam. The Italian prosecutors believe this scam to be one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The alleged €2bn fraud centers on Sparkle, Fastweb and a network of offshore groups in Panama, Luxembourg and other jurisdictions. The alleged evasion of €350m in value-added tax on the deals is also investigated by the prosecutors and Italy’s tax police.
According to Franco Bernab©, chief executive, board of Italy’s biggest telecommunications group was examining 1,600 pages of court documents relating to a sweeping tax evasion and money laundering probe involving Sparkle, its wholesale voice and broadband business, and Fastweb, another Italian telecoms group.
VSNL Q2 net profits up by 18 per cent to Rs.107 crore
International telecommunications major VSNL today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2006.
The Company’s revenues on a standalone basis grew by 5% for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 to Rs.1,005 Crores against Rs.961 Crores for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. Operating profits improved by 4% for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 to Rs.198 Crores against Rs.190 Crores for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.
Net profits of the Company increased by 18% to Rs.107 Crores for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 against Rs.91 Crores for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.
Volumes in the Company’s wholesale voice and enterprise & carrier data businesses continued to grow significantly; enterprise and carrier data revenues grew 25% on a quarter to quarter basis, in spite of price cuts announced during the quarter.
VSNL’s revenues for the half year ended September 30, 2006 stood at Rs. 1,961 Crores against Rs.1,890 Crores for the six month period ended September 30, 2005. Net profits for the half year ended September 30, 2006 were Rs.195 Crores.
During the quarter, the company announced a reduction in the prices of International Private Leased Circuits and Internet Leased Lines by upto 25% and 40% respectively. VSNL also announced plans to build two submarine cable systems. The company’s plans have made swift progress with an MoU being signed with Etisalat, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, and Telecom Italia sparkle for the construction of the India-Middle East-Western Europe .
Source- http://www.prdomain.com
