Hutchison’s Israeli subsidiary Partner Communications has confirmed that it has made a formal bid to buy rival MIRS from Motorola.
While details of the bid were not disclosed, the asset is valued at around $300 million..
MIRS, which operates a Motorola-supplied iDEN network, is coveted by all three Israel carriers. MIRS has around 441,000 subscribers or 4%-5% of the Israeli mobile market.
Partner said in a statement that “there is no assurance that the offer will be accepted or that an agreement will be reached as the offer is subject to conditions including further due diligence as well as satisfactory resolution on detailed contract terms.”
Meanwhile, Motorola has demanded that the bidders for the carrier agree to pay a NIS50 million ($13.4 million) penalty if the Ministry of Communications and Antitrust Authority refuse to approve their acquisition of the company, should they win the tender.
Monday was the deadline set by Motorola for bid submissions. It is understood that all four carriers, Bezeq, Pelephone, Cellcom and Partner have now submitted bids. French entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, and 012 Smile Communications were also due to submit bids.