Infoquest Sells Q-Telecom Unit To Tim Hellas Holders

Texas Pacific and Apax Partners agreed to pay EUR325 million in cash for the Q-Telecom unit. The two companies will also take on an Infoquest corporate bond valued at EUR25 million.

Texas Pacific and Apax Partners jointly own Tim Hellas, Greece's third-largest mobile operator, which they bought in April for a total EUR1.6 billion.

Infoquest said it accepted a bid for Q-Telecom from Texas Pacific and Apax Partners after the deadline for exclusive negotiations with U.K. investment company BC Partners (BCP.YY) expired.

Tim Hellas has a market share of about 23%. The company lags behind Cosmote (COSMO.AT), the mobile unit of Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE), and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD). Cosmote and Vodafone have a combined share of around 73% of the Greek wireless market.

Q-Telecom is the fourth-largest mobile operator in Greece with around 850,000 subscribers - most of them pre-pay - at the end of the first half of this year. The company had around 72,000 fixed-line customers at the same time. It aimed to have a total of 1 million customers by the end of the year.

Q-Telecom's first-half revenue rose more than 50% on the year to over EUR70 million.

Proton Securities head equity analyst Vassilis Kararizos said the purchase makes sense for Tim Hellas from a strategic point of view.

"Tim Hellas, through its shareholders' move, is now sitting on a brand that attends mainly the lower tier, prepaid customers, a move that makes sense," he said.

London-based Apax Partners invests in telecommunications, IT and consumer goods and services across Europe, the U.S. and Israel.

Texas Pacific Group has interests in Europe and the U.S., with about $3 billion invested in technology and telecommunications businesses.

At 1038 GMT, Infoquest shares were trading up EUR0.44, or 11.1%, at EUR4.40.

-By Paul Tugwell, Dow Jones Newswires; +30 210 331 2881; paul.tugwell@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 17th October 2005