Three UK Parent Company Could Be Buying O2 Network for £9.25-bn

Hutchinson Whampoa Limited, the parent company of the Three UK (3) mobile network has announced it is in negotiations to purchase O2.

The Hong Kong based company, abbreviated as HWL and operating over here as Hutchison 3G UK, stated its intentions in a press release and expects ‘exclusive’ negotiations with O2’s current owner Telefónica, S.A to last several weeks. The price offered is £9.25-billion to be paid at closing and only following ‘corporate and regulatory’ approvals.

Up until now this potential buyout has only been the subject of rumour. Now confirmed, an acquisition of O2 by Three UK’s parent could result in a merged brand much like Orange and T-Mobile which combined into a networking and high-street super-force EE (Everything Everywhere), who themselves coincidentally entered a joint venture with HWL in 2007 sharing several thousand network base stations.

Speaking of EE, it was recently reported that British Telecom (BT) was actually in a bid to buy the mobile network in a £12-billion deal which would take its mobile network reach even further. We’d think today’s breaking news regarding Three UK and O2 might speed up the proceedings between BT and EE as the 4G mobile network wars really start to heat up in the United Kingdom.

You can read the full Press Release from Hutchinson Whampoa Limited at the company’s Media Center.