THE ACQUISITION IN August of Italy’s Wind Telecom by Weather Investments, a consortium led by Egypt’s Sawiris family, is groundbreaking. The €12.1 billion deal is not only Europe’s biggest-ever leveraged buyout but also the largest-ever acquisition in Europe by a Middle Eastern concern.
The Wind bid was the brainchild of Naguib Sawiris, chairman, CEO and controlling stakeholder of Orascom Telecom Holding. OTH was created in 1998 as a partner in Egypt’s first mobile-phone operator, MobiNil, and is just one part of the Orascom commercial empire built up by patriarch Onsi Sawiris over a period of 50 years.
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