Swisscom deals fill coffers

March 30, 2001
Web posted at: 8 6 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Swisscom, Switzerland's former telephone monopoly, sold property worth 1.28 billion Swiss francs ($740 million) as it revamps the business.

The deal announced on Friday is the second by Swisscom this month and brings to $1.5 billion the amount the company has raised as it sheds non-core assets.

European telecom companies are trying to raise money to meet the costs of rolling out third-generation, or high-speed, mobile phone networks.

British Telecom (BT-A) plans to sell £2 billion ($2.8 billion) of real estate to reduce its £30 billion debt mountain.

Swisscom, in which the Swiss government still holds a 65 percent stake, has been expanding its reach into neighbouring countries such as Germany and Austria and brokering deals with the likes of Vodafone.

Swisscom is scheduled to receive some 2.2 billion francs from Vodafone (VOD) for a 25 percent stake in its Swiss mobile business.

The Vodafone transaction is expected to be concluded on Monday.

In its latest property deal, Swisscom (SCM: Research, Estimates) said it was selling 162 buildings to two real estate companies, PSP Real Estate AG and WTF Holdings.

On March 2, Swisscom raised 1.27 billion francs from 28 properties sold to a group led by Credit Suisse Asset Management. Swisscom said its capital gain from the two deals was about 500 million francs.

Swisscom shares were 1.7 percent higher in Zurich at 390 Swiss francs after the property deal was announced. The shares closed up 1.1 percent in New York on Thursday at 22.05.

Swisscom eyes third
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Swisscom

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