A consortium of investors finalised a purchase of T-Mobile Netherlands from Deutsche Telekom and Tele2 Group for €5.1 billion, alongside installing industry veteran Olaf Swantee as chairman of the Dutch operator’s supervisory board.

The transaction, announced in September 2021, involves private equity funds Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus taking over the challenger operator.

As was widely expected, former EE and Sunrise chief Swantee joined the company’s board on completion of the deal.

Discussing his latest role, Swantee stated he and the management team would ensure T-Mobile “strengthens its position as a leading telco in the Netherlands in the eyes of its employees, its customers and its shareholders.

“The people of T-Mobile Netherlands have successfully built a strong foundation and we will build on this by setting new Dutch and global benchmarks in the telecommunications industry,” he added.

GSMA Intelligence connection figures for Q4 2021 place the operator as the second-largest in the market with 5.8 million, less than 500,000 ahead of VodafoneZiggo and well behind market leader KPN with its 10 million-strong base.

Exit
The sale closes the chapter on Deutsche Telekom’s presence in the Dutch mobile market, which had been rumoured for some time.

The operator group was thought to be mulling an exit in 2015 before eventually merging the business with Tele2’s local unit.

Prior to the sale Deutsche Telekom owned a 75 per cent stake in the business, with Tele2 Group holding the remainder.

In its statement, Deutsche Telekom noted it would make €4 billion from the deal. Tele2 Group stated it would distribute its portion of the cash raised to shareholders with an extraordinary dividend later this year.