Chapter 758 Greek Telecom

This morning, Barron changed his morning exercise routine.

I have to say that Cassandra's recovery ability is somewhat surprising.

After studying last night, in the morning, she was still able to insist on reading with Barron. She is indeed a good girl who is good at learning...

"How long will you stay in Paris?"

After the room finally calmed down, Cassandra couldn't help but ask.

"There are still a day or two. You know, my schedule will be quite busy next time."

After hearing Barron's words, Cassandra was slightly disappointed:

"Then can I go to London to see you?"

"Well, of course, but it's best to give me the news in advance so that I can arrange the time..."

But Barron couldn't guarantee whether he would have time by then. After all, sometimes fast food was only eaten occasionally.

Next, Barron met O2 Telecom CEO Berry Trelles, who came to Paris from Greece.

“In order to meet the requirements of the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Greek government formulated a privatization plan for some state-owned assets, and we successfully bid for 25% of the shares of Hellenic Telecom (OTE) held by the Greek government. shares, we paid a price of 3 billion euros..."

This month, the Greek government finally completed the first round of negotiations with the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They will receive various bailouts that may total up to 120 billion euros.

But one of the conditions is that the Greek government needs to show their determination to eliminate the crisis. To this end, the Greek government will significantly reduce government spending and at the same time sell some state-owned assets and privatize them in exchange for funds to allow their government to Debt looks better.

Under pressure, the Greek government acted quickly. For example, Peninsula Oriental Group and COSCO Group jointly completed the acquisition of Piraeus, the largest port in Greece.

COSCO Group acquired 67% of the shares of Piraeus Port, and the remaining 33% of the port equity was acquired by Peninsula Oriental Group.

In this way, the two parties will cooperate to expand the scale of Piraeus Port and increase its throughput, making it the largest port in the Mediterranean.

The Greek government's sale list also includes a 25% stake in Greece's largest telecommunications company, Hellenic Telecom.

In the competition for these shares, O2 Telecom defeated other competitors and finally won 25% of Hellenic Telecom's shares for 3 billion euros.

However, after this agreement is reached, O2 Telecom CEO Berry Trelles will also go to Germany to discuss with Deutsche Telekom after this meeting with Barron...

Because the current largest shareholder of Hellenic Telecom is Deutsche Telekom, they hope to buy out Deutsche Telekom's shares to complete their control of Hellenic Telecom.

In addition to being the largest telecommunications operator in Greece, Hellenic Telecom also has a strong position in the communications markets of Southern and Southeastern Europe, including Algeria, Romania and Bulgaria.

As early as March 2008, Deutsche Telekom acquired less than 20% of the shares of Hellenic Telecom (OTE) from MIG for a purchase price of approximately 2.55 billion euros.

Afterwards, through negotiations with the Greek government, Deutsche Telekom gradually increased its stake in Hellenic Telecom to about 35%, becoming the largest shareholder of Hellenic Telecom.

However, it is obvious that since the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, Deutsche Telekom has had a very difficult time. In order to repay debts, they had to sell their American subsidiary T-Mobile USA to O2 Telecom.

Now O2 Telecom hopes to further acquire the shares of Hellenic Telecom held by Deutsche Telekom, so that they will own more than 60% of Hellenic Telecom's shares, thereby completing their control and making it a subsidiary of O2 Telecom.

In addition to the Czech Telecom previously acquired by O2 Telecom (now the Czech branch of O2 Telecom), O2 Telecom will have a considerable market share in the Eastern European market and the Southern European market.

This time, Deutsche Telekom also participated in the Greek government’s bid to sell shares in Hellenic Telecom, but ultimately lost to O2 Telecom in bidding. This also shows that Deutsche Telekom is no longer as strong as it once was.

Therefore, O2 Telecom is still very hopeful this time to get Hellenic Telecom from Deutsche Telekom.

Of course, if Deutsche Telekom does not relent, they can only achieve control of Hellenic Telecom by continuing to acquire Greek Telecom shares in the secondary market and acquiring them from other small shareholders.

That will inevitably cost more money and time, and can only be used as a last resort option.

"If the acquisition of Hellenic Telecom can be completed, it will have a synergistic effect on our current European business, increasing the number of users while reducing considerable operating costs..."

Currently, the total number of users of Hellenic Telecom is around 7 million. If the acquisition of Hellenic Telecom can be completed, O2 Telecom will become the top three telecommunications groups in Europe in terms of user scale.

…

Barron's stay in France was longer than previously expected...

After dealing with matters in France, he also helped Eilish Weber conduct many sowings... Barron returned to London in late June.

At this time, Tamaran Ecclestone's due date is very close, so Barron will spend more time with her.

During this period of time, Catherine Neville was the person who was most often with Tamaran - the relationship between the two began to become closer when they were in Australia.

This was also convenient for Barron. When he lived with Tamaran, because of her physical condition, Barron often studied knowledge with Catherine first, and then accompanied Tamaran to sleep. …

He couldn't help but suspect that Catherine might soon have their second child.

"Yesterday, on our northern border, armed elements crossed the border and attacked local villages in Kolo..."

Nigel Inkster reported to Barron what had just happened:

"The Kolo Army responded quickly. They repelled the militants. However, the remaining personnel of the other party fled across the border to the Benin side. We can only temporarily stop the pursuit, but we have strengthened local vigilance and investigation."

Upon hearing the news, Barron frowned slightly:

"Can you confirm whether the Benin military is involved in this?"

"There is no sign of this for the time being, but it is obvious that the other party has received support from some external funds."

Barron understood that the "external funds" Nigel mentioned were likely to come from France...

"Let the Kolo side warn Benin and ask them to cooperate in controlling these terrorists, otherwise the Kolo Corps will not rule out the possibility of cross-border pursuit!"