Hutchison bids for takeover approval

Hutchison Whampoa is offering to help a smaller rival become Ireland’s fourth mobile operator in a bid to win EU approval for its acquisition of Telefonica’s O2 Ireland unit, according to sources.

Hutchison’s offer to the European Commission would cede spectrum and network access to a so-called mobile virtual network operator. The offer would enable the competitor to move from piggybacking on others’ services to running its own infrastructure within three years.

Concessions by billionaire Li Ka-Shing’s Hutchison are designed to overcome EU objections to the combination of two of the country’s four mobile operators that run their own networks.