Sawiris sets out plans to change Wind

Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian entrepreneur, said on Monday he planned to transform Wind, the Italian telecommunications company he bought last month, by boosting investment, rationalising expenditure and preparing the business for a stock market flotation.

“Patience isn't one of my virtues. I've climbed many mountains in my life and I've never rolled back,” Mr Sawiris told the Financial Times.

In what was Europe's largest leveraged buy-out, an investment vehicle controlled by Mr Sawiris bought Wind from Enel, the Italian utility company, in a deal valuing the telecoms company at €12.1bn ($14.9bn).

Mr Sawiris said he intended to invest more than €4bn in Wind over the next several years and wanted to upgrade its client base by using better products and service to attract more high-spending customers.

At the same time, he said Wind would review all its current infrastructure costs with the aim of cutting unnecessary expenditure.

“We want to put the dollar where the dollar will make money. We have discovered that, in some areas, spending isn't rationalised,” he said.

As a first step, Wind has already saved €75m in recent months by cutting costs from suppliers of network and information technology equipment, he said.

Wind is Italy's third-largest mobile phone operator and its second-largest fixed-line provider, with total revenues last year of €4.7bn.

Mr Sawiris said Wind was soliciting advice from financial institutions on how best to prepare for a stock market listing by mid-2007 at the latest. “It's more than probable it will happen,” he said.

Mr Sawiris secured a €9.3bn financing package from Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro and San Paolo IMI for the purchase of Wind, and the three banks are now trying to arrange a €1.75bn high-yield bond sale to cover part of the loan. Luigi Gubitosi, Wind's chief financial officer, told reporters that the bond sale would be completed by the end of this year or early next year.”

Mr Sawiris said he was looking at possible acquisitions in other European countries, such as Greece, which would give his Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding group a well-rounded Mediterranean market profile.