CK Hutchison, parent company of 3 Italia and VimpelCom, parent company of Wind announce that they have completed the transaction to combine their businesses in Italy. 3 Italia and WIND are now formally under the joint ownership of CK Hutchison and VimpelCom.
CK Hutchison and VimpelCom also confirm that Maximo Ibarra, the current Chief Executive Officer of WIND, will lead the joint venture, supported by Dina Ravera, who will serve as Merger Integration Officer, and Stefano Invernizzi, who will serve as Chief Financial Officer. Vincenzo Novari, the current CEO of 3 Italia, will be appointed as special adviser to CK Hutchison.
Through the combined business, CK Hutchison and VimpelComplans to create a strong new operator in Italy, driving competition in the market and serving over 31 million mobile customers and 2.7 million fixed line customers. The joint venture will be positioned as a converged operator through its cooperation with Enel Open Fiber and plans to build a world-class 4G/LTE network in Italy.
The new company intends to deliver EUR 700 million run-rate of annualized Opex and Capex synergies.
Canning Fok, CK Hutchison Group Co-Managing Director
This will bring benefits to businesses and consumers across Italy - through greater reliability, coverage and speed - whilst ensuring Italy remains at the cutting-edge of the global digital economy.
Jean-Yves Charlier, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom
Customers will see real benefits in terms of call quality and strengthened data services as soon as 2017, as the two companies integrate their networks and combine their engineering prowess.
