CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. (Hutchinson), parent company of 3 Italia S.p.A. (3 Italia), and VimpelCom Ltd. (VimpelCom), parent company of Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (WIND), have offically announced just some hours ago that they have completed the transaction to combine their businesses in Italy.
Under the terms of the jv agreement, 3 Italia and WIND are now formally under the joint ownership of CK Hutchison and VimpelCom.
Maximo Ibarra, the current Chief Executive Officer of WIND, will lead the joint venture, supported by Dina Ravera, who will serve as Merger Integration Officer, and Stefano Invernizzi, who will serve as Chief Financial Officer. Vincenzo Novari, the current CEO of 3 Italia, will be appointed as special adviser to CK Hutchison.
Through the combined business, CK Hutchison and VimpelCom will create a strong new operator in Italy serving over 31 million mobile customers and 2.7 million fixed line customers. The joint venture will be positioned as a truly converged operator through its cooperation with Enel Open Fiber. The transaction is one of the largest M&A (mergers and acquisitions) carried out in Italy since 2007.
This jv transaction received the approval by the EU Coommission in September this year. The Italian the Ministry of Economic Development (Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico or MISE) turned on the green light for the 50/50 joint venture to merge the mobile businesses of 3 Italia and WIND in October this year.
Two Telecom and digital giants
CK Hutchison is a multi-national conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Limited with 270,000 employees in over 50 countries. CK Hutchison has five core businesses: ports and related services, retail, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications. The telecommunications division includes mobile and fixed line operations in Hong Kong and Macau, mobile operations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, and in Europe, mobile operations in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
VimpelCom (NASDAQ: VIP) is an international communications and technology company, headquartered in Amsterdam, and driven by a vision to unlock new opportunities for customers as they navigate the digital world.
VimpelCom provides more than 200 million customers with voice, fixed broadband, data and digital services.
This company offers services to customers in 14 markets including Russia, Italy, Algeria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Laos, and Zimbabwe.
VimpelCom’s licenses cover 10% of the world’s population and operates under the following brands: Beeline, WIND, Djezzy, Mobilink, Warid, Kyivstar, banglalink and Telecel.
Milestone in Italy’s digital economy growth, Hutchinson’s Canning Fok says
Commenting on the completion, Canning Fok, CK Hutchison Group Co-Managing Director, said: “Today marks a major milestone in the development of Italy’s digital economy. Not only will the transaction create a strong new competitor in the Italian market, it will also provide significant additional investment to drive development of Italy’s digital infrastructure. This will bring benefits to businesses and consumers across Italy – through greater reliability, coverage and speed – whilst ensuring Italy remains at the cutting-edge of the global digital economy.”
Jean-Yves Charlier, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, said: “We are pleased that we can now bring WIND and 3 Italia together to build a world-class 4G/LTE network in Italy. The merged business, its management team and governance are ready to launch a new era of telecommunications services in Italy. Customers will see real benefits in terms of call quality and strengthened data services as soon as 2017, as the two companies integrate their networks and combine their engineering prowess. The new company looks forward to delivering on the EUR 700 million run-rate of annualized Opex and Capex synergies that the transaction will bring.”
