Swisscom sells German mobile provider debitel to British private equity company

AP Worldstream
04-30-2004
Dateline: BERN, Switzerland
Telecommunications company Swisscom announced Friday that it has sold its German mobile provider, debitel AG, to British-based private equity company Permira for euro640 million (US$766 million).

The company said it had decided to realize its investment in debitel after hoped-for savings "failed to materialize due to differences in the business models of Swisscom and debitel and the performance of European mobile communications markets.

"As a result of this, Swisscom managed debitel as a purely financial investment. Swisscom has now decided to realize the value of its investment in debitel," the company added.

Swisscom bought debitel in 2000 for 4.3 billion Swiss francs (then around US$2.5 billion), but much of that value has since been written off amid a general decline in the value of telecoms.

Debitel is the biggest services provider in Germany and has operations in France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Slovenia.

The Stuttgart-based company employs some 3,100 staff in Europe and provides mobile, fixed network and Internet services to more than 10 million customers.

In early trading in Zurich, Swisscom shares were down 2.7 percent at 404 francs (US$313). Friday is the first day of Swisscom's ex-dividend period, when a company's shares normally fall.

(nk-sjc)

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