Swisscom plans a tender an all cash offer of 47 euros per share for 100 percent of the shares of
FastWeb, the
IPTV pioneer and leading competitive carrier in Italy. The total cost to
Swisscom will be 3.7 billion euros. Silvio
Scaglia, the founder and leading stockholder in
FastWeb has accepted
Swisscom's proposal. This
Swisscom deail will allow
Scaglia to fully liquidate his investment in
FastWeb, something he has wanted to do for more than a year now.
FastWeb's board of directors will consider
Swisscom's offer today.
Swisscom stated that it intends to make long term investments in
FastWeb based on a new generation of network and innovative offerings in Italy.
Swisscom stated that the acquisition would strengthen it in three ways:
- FastWeb has a lead of 3 to 5 years in new technologies that will strengthen Swisscom's infrastructure.
- FastWeb has a competitive edge in multimedia applications including IPTV.
- FastWeb will boosst Swisscom's cash flows significantly since it is a high growth company with increasing cash flows over time.
This acquisition solves a strategic problem for FastWeb. Silvio Scaglia has wanted to bail for more than a year and forced the payment of a 300 million euro one time dividend to liquidate a part of his investment in FastWeb. It also gives Swisscom a very strong entry into the Italian market and access to the latest technologies. It will be a good deal for both companies as long as Swisscom can maintain FastWeb's business and technical expertise.
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