Hutchison Drei Austria GmbH Brünner Straße 52 1210 Vienna, Austria FN 140132b, Handelsgericht Wien

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Press Release
Vienna – 28 July 2017

Drei acquires Tele2 Austria. Austria’s largest alternative telecommunications provider emerges.

• A perfect match: Austria’s number one in the area of mobile data acquires the number two in the landline business client segment.
• Following the acquisition of Orange and the first Austria-wide LTE network, Drei sees its third growth spurt in a row.
• With Tele2, Drei will complete its evolvement to become a fully integrated full-service telecommunications provider.
• For large clients, Drei will be the only alternative to the former monopolist.
• Investments reached 2 billion euros over past five years: Drei wants to turn Austria into a digital champion.

Today, Hutchison Drei Austria, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, announced its 100% acquisition of Tele2 Austria. With this merger, Austria’s largest alternative telecommunications provider emerges, with a total of roughly 4 million mobile phones, landline and Internet connections (revenue generating units) and future sales of just under one billion euros. The acquisition price is 95 million euros. Tele2 will receive EUR 85 million at closing and EUR 10 million in the form of an earn-out to be paid over 12-24 months depending on the success of the integration process.

Tele2 is the leading alternative landline provider in Austria. In recent years, it has evolved to become Austria’s no. 2 among business clients. Every third large business in Austria has chosen Tele2. Drei is an innovator in the Austrian telecommunications sector and as such the market leader for mobile entertainment services and Austria’s largest provider of mobile Internet services.

Jan Trionow, CEO of Drei: “Today is a historic day for Tele2 and Drei in Austria. The acquisition of Tele2 allows us to close the last gap in our offering and brings us even closer to the no. 1 in the market – not only in the private client segment, but with business clients as well. Our merger gives Drei and Tele2 the opportunity to continue growing. For large businesses, we will now be the only true alternative to the former monopolist. For private households in Austria, we will make sure that there will continue to be Austria-wide price- and offer-based competition in the landline segment now and in the future. We will continue Tele2’s successful business model. Hence nothing will change for existing clients.”

Tele2: Drei was our ideal partner.
For Drei, the acquisition of Tele2 is the company’s third important growth spurt in Austria following the purchase of Orange and the creation of the first Austria-wide LTE network. Including today’s acquisition, Drei has invested a total of 2 billion euros in Austria in the past five years. “We believe in our commitment and in our responsibility towards the Austrian telecommunications market. With Tele2, we will have a key role in the digital connection of Austrian companies. In the future, we want to allow even more companies to benefit from high-speed Internet and the Internet of Things, which will in turn make Austria a digital champion on the international stage,” said Mr. Trionow.

“Drei was the ideal partner for us because our activities complement each other to perfection and the merger will create greater possibilities to scale within both fixed and mobile. Both Drei and Tele2 are companies with a challenger spirit in a quite competitive market and have a strong customer focus. This was important to us,” said Alfred Pufitsch, CEO of Tele2 Austria.

Tele2 to quad play consisting of mobile telephony, landline, content/video and Internet.
With the acquisition of Tele2, Drei is opening a new chapter in its company history. As a provider of mobile telephony, Drei has successfully offered telecommunication and streaming services for private households for a long time and also wants to increasingly address business clients. Tele2, with its clients, client relationships and range of products, is set to become an integral part of the new 3Business Unit and is expected to provide new hybrid offerings for households due to its infrastructure.

“In the future, Drei will be synonymous with a fully integrated quad play offer consisting of mobile telephony, landline, content/video and Internet services. The combination of unbundled landline connections and Tele2’s fiberglass network with Drei’s LTE network will take our offering to the next level.”

With Tele2, Drei is also strengthening its activities as an IT service provider for business clients by offering network management, housing and hosting services as well as security solutions. This puts Drei in an even better position when it comes to new and innovative solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT). Thanks to the acquisition of Tele2, business clients will account for 22 % of total service revenue instead of 12% as before. In the medium term, the company plans to achieve 25% of its service revenue with its business client segment.

Acquisition expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Between them, Drei and Tele2 employ 1,500 employees. “The employees of Tele2 and Drei are the key element for a successful merger between our companies. To combine our two teams, we will follow our tried and trusted integration process,” said Trionow.

The completion of the transaction is subject to the customary approvals by Austrian competition authorities. Drei believes that the acquisition will be finalized before the end of this year.