By Razak Musah Baba
LONDON--Vodafone Group PLC's (VOD.LN) Greece unit has agreed to
acquire 72.7% of the share capital of Hellas Online SA (HOL) for
72.7 million euros ($97 million) in cash, the mobile
telecommunications giant said Friday.
Vodafone Greece which currently owns an 18.4% stake in Hellas
Online, has acquired the stake from Intracom Group and World
Equities Investments Holdings SA (WEI), as part of Vodafone's
unified communications strategy in Greece it added.
Vodafone said it expects to achieve cost and capex synergies
with an annual run-rate of EUR24 million before integration costs
by the third full year after completion, equivalent to a net
present value of EUR135 million after integration costs.
"These synergies are expected to be realized from sharing
network and IT infrastructure, savings on marketing and bill
collections, and rationalization of overlapping functions," it
added.
Vodafone also said it will finance the transaction from its
existing cash resources and committed but undrawn bank
facilities.
The Transaction is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of
2014, after which Vodafone Greece would own 91.2% of Hellas Online
and be under an obligation to extend a mandatory takeover offer for
the remaining shares in Hellas Online.
Write to Razak Musah Baba at razak.baba@wsj.com; Twitter:
@Raztweet
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