Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Bees in the wind that whispers Elisa...?

Bite means bee in Lithuanian and Latvian and now the wind that often blows the bees about has brought an interesting whisper. Here it is.
Danish TDC, the owner of the Bite Group (which includes the mobile operator Bite Latvija in Latvia and Bite in Lithuania) is in talks to possibly sell both mobile assets to Elisa, the Finnish mobile operator which already has an operation in Estonia.
The private equity owners of TDC have apparently decided that the company should shed, or at least explore shedding some "marginal" operations such as the Baltic mobile operators to have a leaner, more Nordic focused operation.
The Nordic investment bankers Carnegie are said to be advising TDC on the possible sale of both Bites. They advised the sale of TDC to its current private equity owners.
Meanwhile, Elisa gets pan-Baltic mobile coverage. The company has been shopping recently with its aquisition of Finnish (virtual)mobile operator Saunalahti, a deal where Carnegie was also involved, advising the seller, Novator.
If what the wind whispers proves true (it may take weeks, anyone involved who confirms this on record to a bloggerist /blogger -journalist/ will get bigger stripes on his/her suit if the matter involves any stock exchanges :) ), then my theory of TDC as a possible buyer of Lattelekom falls apart and Lattelekom looks more and more like an aging orphan princess that will be taken out on a sled to the woods and left for the wolves by its (then) sole owners, the state. But that is another story.

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