[iliad press release] iliad’s friendly public tender offer for the Polish telecom operator, Play, is a success, with iliad now holding 96.7% of Play’s capital and voting rights

Press Release

Paris, november 20, 2020 

iliad’s friendly public tender offer for the Polish telecom operator, Play, is a success, with iliad now holding 96.7% of Play’s capital and voting rights

financial communications

The iliad Group is delighted to announce the success of its public tender offer for the Polish telecom operator, Play. Following the settlement of the offer – the results of which have just been publicly disclosed – iliad will own 246,131,028 Play shares, representing 96.7% of Play’s capital and voting rights.

Play’s Board of Directors has been reorganized to reflect iliad’s acquisition of control over the company, and it now includes six directors put forward by iliad and three independent directors.

The settlement-delivery of the offer will take place on November 25, 2020.

Thomas Reynaud, Chief Executive Officer of iliad, said: “We are glad that our public tender offer has been accepted by 96.7% of Play shareholders. Iliad wishes to support Play to expand its footprint in the Polish mobile market and facilitate Play’s entry into the fixed-line services market to benefit both the retail and business market in Poland. This acquisition represents an important step for Iliad, which now has 42 million subscribers in Europe across France, Italy and now Poland”.

Jean-Marc Harion, Chairman of Play’s Management Board, said: “We are delighted with the resounding success of the tender offer. This new chapter in Play’s history comes on the back of 15 years of exceptional growth, which has made it Poland’s leading mobile operator with over 15 million subscribers. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to our 2,800 employees who have helped Play reach such a high level of excellence. We, in Play, are proud to become part of the 6th biggest operator in Europe.”

About iliad

iliad is the parent company of Free, the inventor of the Freebox, the first multiservice box on ADSL. Free is behind numerous innovations in the Broadband and Ultra-Fast Broadband access segment (VoIP, IPTV, flat-rate calling plans to multiple destinations, etc.) and provides straightforward and innovative offerings at the best prices. Since January 2012, Free has brought mobile phone usage within everyone’s reach with straightforward, no-commitment offerings at very attractive prices. As at September 30, 2020, Free had over 20 million subscribers in France (6.7 million Broadband and Ultra-Fast Broadband subscribers and 13.5 million mobile subscribers). On May 29, 2018, the Group launched its mobile network in Italy under the iliad brand, becoming the country’s fourth operator, and had over 6.8 million subscribers at September 30, 2020. Following the acquisition of Play - the leading operator in the Polish mobile market - the Group has become the sixth-largest mobile telecom operator in Europe.

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