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Wind Hellas Says It Has Bidders After Freezing $2.4 Billion Debt Payments
Wind Hellas Telecommunications SA said it received offers from a “number of potential investors” for the Greek phone company, which put itself up for sale after delaying payments on 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) of debt.
Buyers have until Sept. 15 to make a binding offer for the company, Wind Hellas said in a statement released late yesterday. It didn’t provide the bidders’ identities.
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, who owns Greece’s third-largest mobile phone operator through Weather Investments SpA, said he hasn’t made a decision about whether to invest more funds.
“We are considering it but there’s no decision as yet,” Sawiris said in an interview. “It will depend on discussions with creditors.”
The company is also exploring a share sale, an investment with a debt restructuring, or a combination, according to the statement.
Wind Hellas, hurt by falling consumer confidence and spending after the implementation of austerity measures to ease the Greek budget deficit crisis, is seeking a seller and an agreement to write off some of its debt less than a year after emerging from bankruptcy.
Creditors to the firm agreed to freeze payments until Nov. 5 while it tries to sell itself, Wind Hellas said last month. The company deferred a 17.5 million-euro interest payment on its 250 million-euro revolving credit facility. It also missed a 23 million-euro coupon payment on 1.2 billion-euros of floating rate notes due July 15.
The company’s secured floating-rate notes were unchanged at 32.5 cents, according to HSBC Holdings Plc prices on Bloomberg. Its 356 million euros of unsecured 8.5 percent notes due October 2013 were also unchanged at 3 cents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Petrakis in Athens at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net.
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