KPN considers takeover of Tele2

14 August 2007

THE HAGUE – KPN is considering taking over Belgian telecom company Tele2/Versatel Belgium. The possible takeover would involve EUR 100 million, KPN said on Tuesday.

The Dutch telecom company hereby confirmed earlier reports in the Belgian media. Tele2/Versatel is active as a provider of fixed line telephone services and – on a smaller scale – mobile telephone services.

Versatel has said that KPN is not the only party interested in the Belgian operator. KPN already owns mobile telephony provider BASE in Belgium.

Rumour has it KPN also wants to take part in bidding for French mobile phone company Bouygues Telecom. KPN has denied this however.

KPN also announced that it wants to complete its current programme of buying in shares worth EUR 1 billion more quickly so as to profit from the lower share prices at the moment. Current prices will allow KPN to buy in more shares for its money.

So far KPN has bought in 48.7 million shares for an average price of EUR 11.98 a share; this is 60 percent of the total number of shares it wants to buy up. KPN’s share price closed on Monday at EUR 10.82.

Subject: Dutch news, Belgian news