Telenor and the Saban Capital Group are amongst those that are currently bidding for control of Wind Hellas, a telecom operator offering mobile communication services in Greece.
Wind Hellas Bidders:
There are currently about six participants in the bid process:
- Telenor, a Norwegian telecoms operator, at one time held interests in the then Greek mobile operator Cosmote (between 1996 and 2002). Cosmote along with OTE is currently part of Deutsche Telecom. As the Financial Times (FT) report, “Telenor is a leading mobile operator in emerging markets, but ran into controversy with investors in 2008 when it decided to invest in India. The world’s fastest-growing mobile market is reeling from a vicious price war.”
- The Saban Capital Group (SCG) a Los Angeles-based investment house which specializes in entertainment and communication and which has traditionally operated in the region; for example as interest holder in the Israeli company Bezeq.
- InfoQuest, a local company owned by businessman Theodor Fessas, the one-time owner of Q Telecom. Q Telecom was awarded in the past the fourth gsm mobile licence and operated the first national roaming network by partnering with existing mobile operators. Q telecom was sold by Fessas to Wind. Theodor Fessas with the support of other business and investment interest may be looking, for various reasons, to get back into the telecoms game.
- The Argo Group, a Cyprus based company that has investments in other telecom firms, such as the Greek telecoms company On Telecom.
- Sawiris’ Weather Investments, which represent the Wind Hellas controlling shareholder.
- The present Wind Hellas bondholders which as the FT reports, “include Anchorage Advisors, Angelo Gordon, Eton Park, Mount Kellet and Taconic Capital" and are currently constructing a proposal that could see them take over the mobile operator.
Wind Hellas Market Value
Wind Hellas has been the focus of the Greek Telecoms market in the last couple of months and has even drawn fire from Hellenic Telecommunications (OTE) Chief Executive Panagis Vourloumis.
In the Wednesday 8th of September 2010 morning edition of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Vourloumis accused the Greek National Regulatory Agency (NRA), EETT, of unfair and uncompetitive regulatory practices against Hellenic Telecommunications (OTE), practices that favor competitor telecoms operators (pointing to Wind) even if these operators have declared bankruptcy twice.
The resultant binding offers are scheduled to be submitted on the fifteenth of September (assuming all goes well) and may include other bidders such as Forthnet (which has performed due diligence on Wind in the past).
FT reports that Wind Hellas has currently about 355 million Euro of outstanding senior unsecured bonds, a 250 million Euro revolving credit facility, and an enterprise value of less than 1.2 billion Euro of senior secured bonds outstanding, valued at about 35% face value.
Regardless of the strong level of interest, Greek newspaper Kathimerini in its 10th of September morning edition points out the high possibility of current bondholders maintaining control of the enterprise, especially if the bid levels are too low.
Antonis Hontzeas - Antonis Hontzeas has been in the forefront of the Telecommunications industry for over twenty years. Tenures include positions ranging ...
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