Vice-premier George Copos sold the 0.9% stake he still held in MobiFon, the company that operates the Connex mobile telephony service, to the British Vodafone Group, in exchange for 16 million pounds sterling (23.8 million euros).
"I sold because the price was very good," vice-premier George Copos told Ziarul Financiar. He added that the money he made from this deal would be used for several projects, of which the only one he wanted to talk about regarded real estate. "We intend to build some 150,000 square metres of offices and homes in northern Bucharest, where we have already bought the land."
Copos held 0.9% in MobiFon through Cyprus-based Dargate Ltd. He had owned nearly 2% when the company first started in 1996.
This deal allows the evaluation of the Connex-Vodafone operator''s market value as standing at 2.64bn euros.
Vodafone, the world''s largest mobile telephony operator, now owns 100% of MobiFon. Copos was the only minority shareholder left in this company, after Vodafone bought 79% in MobiFon from its majority shareholder, Canada''s Telesystems International Wireless (TIW), therefore coming to own 99.1% in MobiFon.
Vodafone at the time also took over the Czech mobile telephony operator Oskar Mobil, from Dutch ClearWave NV, controlled by Telesystem International Wireless. The total value of the transactions amounted to 3.5bn dollars (2.6bn euros), in addition to taking over some 900 million dollars (691 million euros) of debts. Once the transaction was completed, Vodafone said it was not interested in buying the residual stake, because the minority shareholder could not influence the policy and the strategy of the company. Copos in his turn said he was not looking to sell.
The vice-premier believed in the Connex business, resisting the temptation to sell despite the several offers he got over the years. Copos, who entered politics at the end of last year when he was appointed vice-premier from the Conservative Party, is one of the richest Romanians. The former head of the union of communist students, he started his own business soon after 1989, when he opened the Ana confectionery chain. His businesses now cover the hotel industry and the electrical engine industry (Ana Imep). Copos this year took over the Hilton Hotel in Bucharest, for which he paid between 18 and 19 million euros, according to sources on the market. The businessman is also the owner of the Rapid football club in Bucharest.
The deal with Connex comes at a time when Vodafone''s new strategy is to own 100% in all its branches throughout the world, and have them operate under the same name, Vodafone.
As its officials stated, the operator will use the current brand, Connex-Vodafone, for a limited amount of time and will then move on to the Vodafone name and to the large-scale implementation of the mobile telephony services of the British group, which include the Vodafone Live 3G services.
Connex-Vodafone officials yesterday announced that the company''s revenues from July through September 2005 had gone up by 40%. Considering that revenues reached 183.3 million dollars in the same time last year, the revenues from July through September this year amounted to 256.6 million dollars (approximately 218.5 million euros).
The number of Connex-Vodafone customers increased to 5.529 million at the end of September, 27% more than at the end of September 2004. Net additions in the quarter ending on September 30 stood at nearly 280,000.
mihai.musatoiu@zf.ro ; miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro
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