Com Hem said it has applied to delist its shares from Nasdaq Stockholm after the European Commission approved its merger with Tele2 unconditionally. Com Hem shareholders will receive SEK 37.02 in cash plus 1.0374 x B shares in Tele2 for each share held at the time of completion. The last day of trading in Com Hem shares is expected to be 01 November, and the merger is expected to close on 05 November, with the newly issued Tele2 shares to start trading in Stockholm on the same date.
First announced in January, the merger will create Sweden’s second-largest mobile and fixed broadband provider. Tele2 is absorbing the Swedish cable operator but Com Hem's CEO Anders Nilsson will take over as CEO of the enlarged Tele2 from Allison Kirkby. The merged entity will have 3.9 million mobile customers, 800,000 broadband customers and 1.1 million digital TV subscribers.
The Commission's competition department concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns as the companies' activities and assets are largely complementary. While both are active in the fixed and mobile services retail markets, Com Hem's presence is small in mobile, and Tele2 has only a limited presence in fixed, the Commission said. Furthermore, the combined group will face competition from Telia, Telenor and Tre.
The Commission said it also examined the possible effects of the merger on the bundled, multi-play services market, an area under-developed in Sweden that the new combination is hoping to target. The Commission found that the merged entity would not have the market power to shut out or marginalise its fixed or mobile competitors by bundling fixed and mobile products.
