Industry Canada today approved the proposed buyout by AAL Acquisitions Corporation of Dutch-based VimpelCom’s share in WIND Mobile. The CA$135 million deal (CA$300 million including debt) was first announced in September and was orchestrated by WIND Mobile Chairman Tony Lacavera through his investment company Globalive Capital and a consortium of financial backers that includes West Face Capital, Tennenbaum Capital Partners, […]
VimpelCom
Confirmed: Globalive Capital acquires WIND Mobile
News broke last night that WIND Mobile’s founder and CEO, Tony Lacavera, was looking to buy out VimpelCom’s share of the Canadian carrier with a consortium of financial backers that includes West Face Capital, Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LG Capital Investors, Serruya Private Equity, and Novus Wireless Communications. The news was confirmed this morning with an announcement by Globalive Capital, Lacavera’s […]
VimpelCom writes down value of WIND Mobile to zero
The future of WIND Mobile is a little cloudier today after parent company VimpelCom announced that it had written down its investment in the Canadian carrier down to zero. It attributed its FY 2013 Q4 net loss to “non-cash impairment charges taken on our assets in Ukraine and Canada.” The writedown for Canada was valued at US$768 million. VimpelCom added […]
WIND Mobile CEO to step down after selling shares to Orascom Telecom
Orascom Telecom and today announced that it will buy WIND Mobile CEO Anthony Lacavera’s stake in the company in a move that will also see Lacavera step down as CEO. Pending approvals, Lacavera’s holding AAL Corporation will transfer its indirect 66.7% voting share in Globalive Wireless Management Corp., operating in Canada as WIND Mobile, to Orascom. When the dust settles, […]
Former Orascom chairman regrets getting involved in Canada
Former Orascom Telecom chairman Naguib Sawiris said in an interview that he regrets ever getting involved in Canada. WIND Mobile’s parent company Globalive received substantial financing from Orascom to help it launch in 2009. Orascom’s investment resulted in lengthy legal issues for the new Canadian carrier over its ownership status, first delaying its launch and then causing uncertainty over its […]
Vimpelcom shareholders approve merger with Wind Telecom SpA
The merger between Russian-based VimpelCom Ltd. and WIND Telecom SpA (which owns Orascom Telecom, itself a WIND Mobile partner) cleared a significant milestone today as shareholders approved the move. Alexander Izosimov, CEO and President of VimpelCom, commented: “The approval of this transformative combination with Wind Telecom by our shareholders will lead to the creation of a new global telecom player […]
WIND Mobile parent company Weather Investments SpA to merge with Russian VimpelCom Ltd.
Russian-based VimpelCom Ltd. and Weather Investments S.p.A today announced that they will be merging to become the world’s fifth largest mobile telecommunications carrier with over 174 million subscribers and operations in 20 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. As part of the agreement, VimpelCom will hold 51.7% of Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., the backing company behind Canadian carrier […]