The Austrian antirust regulator, BWB, continues to be in discussions with parties involved in the Orange Austria sale to Hutchison and the related sale of no frills MVNO Yesss! to Telekom Austria.
The BWB had said previously that it will decide by 17…
The Austrian antirust regulator, BWB, continues to be in discussions with parties involved in the Orange Austria sale to Hutchison and the related sale of no frills MVNO Yesss! to Telekom Austria.
The BWB had said previously that it will decide by 17 December whether or not to appeal a recent decision by the Austrian cartel court that allowed the sale of Yesss! to Telekom Austria to proceed.
However, the decision was postponed following a meeting with Hutchison Friday last week. A BWB spokesperson told TelecomFinance today that talks with “parties involved in the process” continue to take place. A decision is expected later this week, although a deadline to appeal to the cartel court expires after 27 December only.
Following the recent European Commission approval of the sale of Orange Austria for €1.3bn, Hutchison Austria CEO Jan Trionow warned already that the disposal of Yesss! was an integral part of the Orange/Hutchison deal. “An appeal of the Yesss! sale would therefore undermine the entire transaction,” he said recently.
Telekom Austria could back out of the €390m Yesss! deal without paying break-up fees if the deal has not closed by the end of January 2013. But TA said recently that the company was not planning to abandon the transaction.
The regulatory aspects of the sale of Orange Austria to Hutchison will be discussed at the TelecomFinance 2013 conference, set to take place on 30 to 31 January 2013 in London. Among the participants of the regulatory panel is European Commission case manager Michele Piergiovanni, who works for the EC’s merger control unit that recently investigated the Orange Austria transaction.
Telekom Austria’s head of M&A, Roland Haidner, is another speaker at TelecomFinance 2013.
