InfOTE is sold for 300 million euros
OTE telecom has sold its InfOTE business directories unit to Rhone Capital LLC and Zarkona Trading Limited for -300 million to reduce debt. The sale agreement was signed today and the transaction is said to be completed by the end of the year, OTE said in a filing to the Athens bourse. The proceeds will help the former monopoly reduce debt generated through the purchase of shares in its mobile-phone company. Hellenic Telecom earlier this month offered -2.8 billion in cash to acquire the stake it didn’t already own in mobile operator Cosmote, its most profitable unit. Rhone Capital, a private investment firm with offices in New York, London and Paris, manages an -800 million buyout fund. Zarkona Trading is a buyout group active in Greece and the wider Balkan region, according to yesterday’s statement. Zarkona has a 15 percent stake in the venture acquiring InfOTE, with the rest held by Rhone. (Bloomberg)
