Italian power group Enel said it has completed the sale of a 62.75% stake in its telecom unit Wind to the Weather Investments consortium led by Egypt's Sawaris family, for EUR 2.986 billion. In a statement, Enel said it has subscribed to a 5.2% stake in Weather for EUR 305 million. The Sawaris have previously said they intend to merge Orascom Telecom Holding and Wind to create a Mediterranean telecom operator. “Our intention is to boost the competitiveness of Wind through the growth and expansion of mobile telephony, fixed telephony and internet services, creating advantages from synergies between Wind and Orascom Telecom Holding", said Naguib Sawiris, president of Weather Investments. "The Sawaris have sold to another Weather unit a stake of 50% plus one share of the capital of Orascom Telecom Holding" Enel said. According to Italian news agency “Ansa”, the new shareholders of Wind will meet on August 12 to appoint a board, including Naguib Sawaris as chairman, and confirm Wind CEO Tommaso Pompei in his post. After the deal is finally completed, the shareholding structure will see the Sawiris family with 71.2% of Weather, Enel with 26.1% and other financial investors with the remaining 2.7%.
