Mobile phone service provider Aerofone has been sold to Icelandic telco
and mobile network operator  Siminn. The acquisition will provide Siminn
with what the companies call a solid launch into the UK with Jo
Marks, founder of Aerofone, as CEO. Aerofone says it will introduce
cutting edge, ICT business solutions for the UK business market.
Aerofone has been voted in the Top 3 for the Best Customer Service in
the UK for the past seven consecutive years, and twice previously voted
best Service Provider in the UK.  Jo Marks has previously won a
Business Entrepreneur of the Year award and is extremely keen to bring
her vision of ICT convergence into reality in the UK.
When I saw how advanced Siminn were in ICT solutions and converged
telecoms, and the extensive resource and investment that they planned
to bring to the UK, I knew that this would be a superb opportunity and
partner for Aerofone says Marks. Part of the agreement for this
acquisition, is that the headquarters will remain and expand in
Bedford, and provide an exciting future and prosperity for its staff.
It is tremendous that Aerofone will share group functions with Siminn
who itself employs over 1900 people, in order to implement the new ICT
customer experience, and so immediately gains a wealth of resource and
expertise.
Siminn is a substantial converged telco operator billing 400,000
customers per month.  Its range of converged services and solutions
include mobile, fixed, broadband/DSL and Internet products, as well as
Live TV and Centrex Network solutions.
One of the companys prime objectives currently is to accompany the
foreign expansion of Icelandic companies. For this reason, Siminn has
established a subsidiary in London, called Siminn UK, a major purpose
of which is to provide Icelandic businesses with ICT solutions abroad.
The leading owners of Siminn are Exista, Kaupthing Bank, the Pension
Fund of Commerce and Gildi Pension Fund. Of these, the largest single
owner is the financial services group Exista with 43.6% of share
capital. Exista is among the largest companies in Iceland and the
largest shareholder in Sampo Group (15.6%), the largest insurance group
in the Nordic region, and Kaupthing Bank (23.0%), a top-ten Nordic
bank. In addition, Exista is the largest owner of Bakkavr Group
(formerly Geest), the leading UK producer of chilled prepared food and
produce. Exista has assets exceeding 2.9 billion, equity in excess of
1.3 billion and market cap of 2.4 billion.