In an extraordinary general meeting, Monday afternoon, shareholders approved a reverse take-over of Tele2’s Benelux assets, by Versatel. Tele2 acquired just over 80% of Versatel in the summer of 2005, for €1.34 billion. However the merger could not be completed due to minority shareholder resistance led by investment fund Centaurus.
Monday morning the group that controls around 14% of Versatel stock, was denied an inquest into mismanagement at the ADSL operator, by the court in Amsterdam. Claiming this does not leave them a decent exit from Versatel, as the public float is extremely small as is trading.
Tele2, as the operator started branding its services last year, acquired the Live Pay-TV broadcast rights to the Dutch Premier League Football for three years starting with the 2005-2006 season for a total of €90 million Euro. This deal has since weighted heavily upon Versatel, starting this season it has offered them on a wholesale basis to DVB-T (and soon) IPTV competitor, incumbent telco, KPN.
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