TIM Greece Sold to Egyptian Weather Group

Weather, backed by Egypts's Naguib Sawiris has paid EUR3.4 (US$4.4) billion for Greece's TIM Hellas. The sale price includes EUR500 million of equity plus EUR2.9 billion of net debt at year end 2006. Apax and TPG initially acquired TIM Hellas from Telecom Italia in June 2005 for EUR1.6 (US$2) billion. In January 2006 the consortium completed the follow-on acquisition of Q-Telecom, the fourth largest Greek mobile operator from Info-Quest S.A. for EUR360 (US$466) million.

Giancarlo Aliberti, Managing Director, Apax Partners, Italy, who led the deal for Apax Partners, said: "This is a very pleasing result for our investors as well as the management and employees of TIM Hellas. Our knowledge of the sector gave us the confidence to embark on and support the operational turnaround that was required at TIM Hellas. Management did a great job in reversing a very serious downward trend of operational performance we found when we acquired the company. The subsequent combination of TIM Hellas with Q-Telecom contributed in a second stage to create a strong company with excellent long-term prospects."

Philippe Costeletos, Partner of TPG, said: "TIM Hellas, which was the first buyout in Greece, demonstrates how private equity can add true value to businesses. Working with a strong new management team, we invested in the network, products and marketing and turned around a struggling franchise. By any standard, TIM Hellas is an industry leader."

Socrates Kominakis, CEO of TIM Hellas, said: "TIM Hellas has grown significantly in the past two years. The commitment of the company's employees and management towards executing our strategic growth plan, changed the status of the mobile market in Greece and established TIM Hellas as a key player. We will leverage on the current momentum, to continue delivering growing value and returns to our new shareholders"

Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisers to Apax and TPG."

Posted to the site on 8th February 2007