TCELL has issued a statement denying rumours that it has made a bid of EUR 3.5bn for 81% of TIM Hellas that is being put on sale by Apax Partners, the second highest bid, next to Etisalat's rumoured EUR 3.8bn offer. The company reiterated that its Board has not approved anything and hence TCELL has not made a bid.
Our view: We would view an agressive bid from TCELL negatively given growth prospects in the Greek mobile market, which we view as sub-optimal compared to Turkish mobile growth prospects. The rumoured EUR 3.5bn would value the company at EUR 4.3bn, some 10.5x 2006F EV/EBITDA, and over EUR 1,400 EV/subscriber, versus current valuation for TCELL of 6.0x 2006F EV/EBITDA and EUR 270 EV/subscriber. We maintain our Hold recommendation on the stock.