EU Clears Telenor To Purchase Vodafone Sverige
BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)-The European Commission Thursday cleared Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor ASA to purchase Swedish telecommunications company Vodafone Sverige from Vodafone Group PLC.
The deal will be completed for a price of around EUR1.03 billion with Telenor assuming all of Vodafone Sverige's debt.
The Commission said it carried out a detailed examination of the deal's impact on competition in the Nordic area. It concluded these markets were growing rapidly and characterized by significant technological change due to the launch of third-generation mobile services.
Also, the presence of several other strong competitors, such as Tele2 AB, "lead to the conclusion that a coordinated strategy amongst the largest Nordic mobile operators is unlikely to be implemented and sustained," the Commission said.
State-owned Telenor is the largest fixed- and mobile-telecom provider in Norway. Telenor also provides mobile-telecom services in Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and in other non-European Economic Area countries.
Vodafone Sverige is the third largest mobile operator in Sweden. It has operations only in Sweden. Vodafone Sverige is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group.
The deal will strengthen Telenor's customer base in Sweden and increase its Nordic network to 5.6 million customers. At the end of 2004, 91% of Swedes between the ages of 16 and 75 had mobile phones.
Vodafone Sweden, the third-largest mobile operator in Sweden, has 1.5 million subscribers.
Telenor had $11.1 billion in sales last year while Vodafone Group had sales of around $59.1 billion for the year ended March 31, 2005. Vodafone Sverige's results aren't disclosed.
-By William Echikson, Dow Jones Newswires; 32-2-285-0134; william.echikson@dowjones.com
(Andrew Koch contributed to this article)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 22nd December 2005
