Olivetti ultimately prevailed in the takeover attempt of Telecom Italia, with 52 percent of Telecom Italia shareholders voting to accept Olivetti’s offer instead of Telecom Italia’s defense plan centered around a proposed merger with Deutsche Telekom. The US$65 million takeover is the largest in European history. Deutsche Telekom’s expressed interest in Telecom Italia has damaged relations with former partner France Telecom; both are now looking for other international partnerships.
The European Commission confirmed it will extend its inquiry into the proposed merger of Nordic carriers Telia and Telenor over what it termed “serious competition concerns,” mainly relating to the carriers’ combined cable television networks and satellite-based services.
Despite willingness on the part of Telia/Telenor to divest itself of various overlapping assets, including holdings in one of its two Irish mobile operators (Eircell and Esat Digifone), the Commission said the complexity of the carriers’ intertwined product markets meant enough problems still remained to warrant the launch a second-phase investigation.
The extended enquiry, which could take up to four more months, seems certain to delay the sale of 33.2 percent of the new carrier, which had been scheduled to take place through an initial public offering as early as September.
Mannesmann has closed the acquisition of Olivetti’s participation in Italy’s Omnitel, with the purchase price amounting to 7.6 billion euros (US$7.9 billion) and increasing Mannesmann’s stake to 55 percent.
Cable & Wireless said it is selling its 20-percent share in Bouygues Telecom to Bouygues SA for US$1.1 billion in cash.
The government of Portugal said it will sell 13.5 percent of Portugal Telecom on the Lisbon stock exchange 12 July, according to the Financial Times. This will reduce the government’s holding to 10.5 percent.
Nokia signed a deal with KPN Telecom of the Netherlands to provide an end-to-end Wireless Application Protocol solution.
