NEWS | Wednesday, 25 July 2007

Melita Cable share transfer deal to be signed tomorrow

Charlot Zahra
The agreement for the transfer of telecoms operator Melita Cable’s shares from the Gasan Group to the UK-based equity firm GMT Group Communications Partners will be signed tomorrow, Melita Cable CEO Philip Micallef told BusinessToday.
The 170 million EUROS agreement, which is the largest foreign investment in a Maltese private company to date, will be signed by Massimo Prelz, Senior Partner of GMT Communications Partners and Joseph Gasan, Chairman of Melita Cable. The Gasan Group will remain minority shareholders in the company.
Asked whether Melita Cable have the intention to apply for a mobile telephony licence so as to become a quad-band telecoms company and about the plans of the new ownership with regards to the company’s operations and services Micallef said: “For the past six months, we have been concentrating entirely on selecting the right investor and with due diligence exercises.
“Now that the deal is concluded, the first on the agenda of the new shareholders will obviously be to devise a strategy for the future, which includes new activities and of course they will assess the potential of completely new areas such as mobile telephony. “They will also be looking at what new or improved services Melita can roll out as well as an investment programme,” he said.
Asked by BusinessToday whether Melita will retain the current employment levels or whether rationalisation was on the agenda, Micallef said: “Yes Melita will be retaining its current employment levels and hopefully increase the numbers as we gain more customers for our different business areas.”
After the acquisition of GO(formerly Maltacom plc) by Tecom Ltd of Dubai last year, both major telecoms companies in Malta have now passed into foreign hands.