Greek telecoms operator Wind Hellas has exercised a call option to raise its stake in local ISP and satellite DTH provider Forthnet from 5.2% to 32.3%.
Privately-held Wind had agreed to acquire the 27.04% holding in Forthnet from Zesmero in July.
The…
Greek telecoms operator Wind Hellas has exercised a call option to raise its stake in local ISP and satellite DTH provider Forthnet from 5.2% to 32.3%.
Privately-held Wind had agreed to acquire the 27.04% holding in Forthnet from Zesmero in July.
The transaction comes ahead of Forthnet’s planned share capital increase, which aims to raise €29m by selling 97 million new common shares at €0.30 each. The offering is open to investors from 10 to 24 December.
Forgendo, a holding company of Emirates International Telecommunications, is Forthnet’s largest shareholder with a 41.27% holding in the company.
Founded by Greek passenger ferry company Minoan Lines and government funded research centre the Foundation for Research & Technology in 1995, Forthnet initially offered internet services. In 2008, it acquired Netmed, parent company of Greek satellite TV provider Nova, for €430m.
Nova is the only satellite pay-TV provider in Greece and uses capacity on Eutelsat’s Hot Bird-13B and Hot Bird-13C satellites, co-located at the 13E orbital location.
The Greek telecommunications incumbent OTE had planned to establish a DTH rival but it never went past the testing phase. In February 2013, OTE announced that it had sold its satellite operator Hellas Sat to Saudi Arabia-based Arabsat for €208m as part of efforts to reduce its substantial debt burden.
