The European Commission has cleared CK Hutchison’s takeover of Italian telecoms group, Wind Tre, subject to CK Huthcison agreeing to take full responsibility for the conditions imposed on Wind Tre when it was created.
These conditions relate to the completion of spectrum transfer and site divestment, and to the implementation of the national roaming agreement until Iliad’s network is fully rolled out.
Wind Tre itself was created via a combination of VimpelCom’s subsidiary Wind and CK Huthcison’s subsidiary H3G. At the time, they were the third and fourth largest operators in the Italian retail mobile market. The Commission found that this and the entry of French low-cost carrier, Iliad, were the only significant changes in the Italian mobile market’s competitive landscape since its 2016 assessment of the Wind Tre deal.
This decision follows the Commission’s blocking of CK Hutchison’s attempted £10.5 billion takeover of O2 in 2016.
The Commission press release is available here.
Please contact Tim Cowen if you have any questions regarding this deal, or competition law and merger control generally.