A 50/50 joint bid by Wind and Vodafone for Greece’s leading alternative telco Forthnet will be made after the Christmas holidays, according to Nassos Zarkalis, the chairman and CEO of Wind Hellas.
Quoted by Ekathimerini, he added that due diligence of Forthnet will soon be completed.
Zarkalis also said that Vodafone had not yet exercised its right to buy Wind-owned shares amounting to 13.25%, thereby taking Vodafone’s stake in the company from the current 6.25% to 19.25%.
Meanwhile, the Greek incumbent OTE is not expected to lodge its own bid for Nova, the pay-TV arm of Forthnet, before January.
Forthnet is currently majority owned by Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT).
It ended the third quarter with 504,441 subscribers to its pay-TV services, up 20.2% on the number a year earlier.
A change in ownership at Forthnet has been on the cards for a number of months.
As previously reported Broadband TV News, in July OTE submitted a non-binding offer for the company’s pay-TV operations.
