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Friday, 28 September 2007 |
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German operator to pay €1.3bn for Orange Nederland after clearance from workers and the EC.
T-Mobile’s acquisition of Orange’s Dutch operation has been given the green light for completion on 01 October. This follows negotiations with the French-owned operator’s Workers Council, a powerful body under Dutch employment law. The tie-up has already gained EC approval since the sale was first mooted back in June (click here).
Combining Holland’s third and fourth largest operators, the merged entity will have 4.6mn mobile customers, representing a market share of 27% and putting it neck-and-neck with number two operator Vodafone. DT will also acquire Orange’s 0.5mn broadband customers.
DT Chairman René Obermann said this morning, "we are on the right track for implementing our 'focus, fix and grow' strategy. We have promised to focus on ‘Growing abroad with mobile communications’ and are systematically doing so with the purchase of Orange Netherlands. This move clearly underlines our expansion efforts."
Against the purchase price of €1.3bn, T-Mobile expects to achieve ‘synergies’ of €1bn, half of which it says will accrue in the first six years. Yes, I found that somewhat less than mind-blowing too.
Jim Chalmers
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