Swisscom has gained control of Italy's Fastweb, in a deal worth $5.7 billion, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said Switzerland's largest telecoms company, which launched a bid for Fastweb in March, said that by the time its offer to shareholders ended, it had acquired 82% of the fixed line and broadband supplier's shares for about 3.1 billion euros ($4.2 billion).
Swisscom also agreed to take on Fastweb's 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) debt, valuing the entire deal at 4.2 billion euros ($5.7 billion), the report said.
'We are delighted that so many shareholders accepted our offer,' Swisscom CEO Carsten Schloter, quoted by the Associated Press report, said.
Swisscom had offered 47 euros ($63.58) per Fastweb share, financing the deal through a combination of borrowings, the sale of digital broadcasting company Antenna Hungaria and selling shares of its own, the report said.
Shares in Swisscom, a spin-off of the former state-owned PTT and still majority-owned by the Swiss government, closed down 0.12% at 422 Swiss francs ($347.45) on the Zurich exchange, the report further said.