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UniCredit Bank buys 5.7% stake of telecom operator O2 Czech Republic [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports](IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia has acquired a 5.68% stake of largest Czech integrated telecommunications provider O2 Czech Republic, CTK news agency reported quoting E15 daily. The stake is estimated to be worth around CZK 5.2bn (EUR 186mn). UniCredit Bank spokesperson Petr Plocak told E15 that the lender purchased 17.48mn O2 Czech Republic shares from investors whose shares were not accepted within the mandatory buyout. The share acquisition was made in line with regulations, the spokesperson added. The purchase by UniCredit Bank makes it the second biggest shareholder of O2 Czech Republic. We remind that Czech investment and financial group PPF, owned by billionaire Petr Kellner, acquired a 65.9% stake of Telefonica Czech Republic (currently O2 Czech Republic), including its wholly-owned subsidiary Telefonica Slovakia, from Spanish Telefonica SA for EUR 2.47bn in January 2014. Telefonica has kept 5% of O2. After that, PPF launched a mandatory tender offer to buy out minority shareholders. The bid was priced at CZK 295.15 per share and expired on June 30. PPF acquired an additional 7.2% stake of O2 Czech Republic, boosting its shareholding to 73.1%. During the tender offer period, PPF said it received acceptance notices for shares representing 16.1% of the registered capital shares, but rejected 8.9% of those due to "formal shortcomings". O2 Czech Republic currently operates nearly eight million mobile and fixed accesses. The company commented that this places it among the market leaders in fully converged services in Europe. (c) 2014 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |