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Milan (pte021/25.01.2005/11:45) - Italian telecom giant Telecom Italia http://www.telecomitalia.it has sold its 54.76 per cent stake in Entel, Chile's largest mobile operator, for 934 million dollars (714.45 million euros). As the Financial Times (FT) http://www.ft.com reports, the Italian telecoms group has confirmed that it has sold the holding to Almendral, a Chilean holding company set up by a group of local entrepreneurs. The move by Telecom Italia is aimed at cutting debt.
The sale comes after Telecom Italia decided last month to borrow a further 12 billion euros - which increases its net debt to 44 billion euros - to fund a 20 billion euro buy-out of the remaining 44 per cent of its mobile arm. According to Telecom Italia, the sale of its Entel holding would reduce its net debt by around 1.1 billion euros.
In recent times, telecom groups around Europe have been frantically trying to link-up their mobile and fixed-line telephone businesses to take advantage of the increasing opportunities for integration between mobile and broadband products. France Telecom recently merged with Orange, while Deutsche Telekom is set to do the same with T-Mobile. Hurtado and Matte previously had a joint 29.1 per cent stake in Entel, which they sold to Telecom Italia in 2000 for 905 million dollars (692 million euros).
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