Press reports from Poland suggest that fixed line and broadband operator Netia could be considering a merger with the country’s fourth largest cellular operator by subscribers, P4, which trades as Play. Gazeta Wyborcza cites Netia’s 23% shareholder – local businessman Zbigniew Jakubas – as saying that he would be interested in a tie-up with P4, and that Netia could set aside up to PLN2 billion (USD630 million) to help fund future acquisitions.
P4 is 50.3% owned by Cyprus-registered Tollerton Investments, itself a subsidiary of Olympia Development, and 49.7% by Novator Telecom Poland, a unit of Icelandic fund Novator. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, in January 2008 Netia agreed to exit P4 by selling its 23.4% stake for EUR130 million (USD193 million), increasing the respective holdings of Novator and Tollerton to 75% and 25%, and a year later Novator agreed to sell part of its stake to Tollerton, giving the latter majority control.